I’ve been to more networking meetings than I can count. Sometimes I leave discouraged over what I see and hear: leaders with their own agendas whose lives don’t match the New Testament because they tolerate compromise.
But a week ago my reaction at Converge21 in Virginia Beach, Va., was opposite. Instead, there were leaders who see the problems in the church and who are committed to getting the church back on track. Several hundred even signed a resolution articulating this commitment. Keep reading to see the entire resolution.
Converge21—held at Regent University—included many significant leaders like Dr. George Wood of the Assemblies of God, Robert Morris from Gateway Church in Dallas, Billy Wilson of Empowered21 and Pastor Jack Hayford from The King’s University. It was really three meetings in one: the Society for Pentecostal Studies, which held its annual meeting; there was a small invitation only meeting of mostly older charismatic ministries; and Empowered21, which brought in “younger leaders.” Any time you get young people together who are eager to learn and be mentored, there is a tremendous energy!
Exhaustion; that’s the best word to describe how I’ve felt for the past three weeks. And there is no natural reason for it. I’ve been sleeping plenty. Drinking lots of water. Getting plenty of exercise. (Enjoying more than my quota of Starbucks!)
Yet the morning I penned this article—despite sleeping nine hours the night before—I went back to sleep for two hours after taking my daughter to school. And when I woke up, I was still exhausted—and disgusted.
I was starting to wonder what was wrong with me. And then I got a friendly reminder revelation from the Holy Spirit: It’s witchcraft. Wicked witchcraft. How could I forget? It caught me off guard. Now I'm warning you.
What would you do if someone was threatening to kill you? Imagine that this person not only hated you vehemently, but was thought to have killed many of his own family members in cold blood. You know for a fact he owns several weapons and strongly suspect he has been attempting to purchase more. On top of all that, he publicly proclaims his desire to kill you on a regular basis. Would you take his threats seriously?
The scenario I described might sound like the setup for a terrible summer movie, but it almost exactly parallels the behavior of Iran toward Israel and the United States over the past several years. Iran’s leaders—President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—have openly declared their intention to “wipe Israel off the map” on numerous occasions.
Less publicized are statements like Ahmadinejad’s from 2008: “Today, the time for the fall of the satanic power of the United States has come, and the countdown to the annihilation of the emperor of power and wealth has started.” Their intentions toward the United States and Israel could not be clearer.
Brenda worked for our ministry at Elijah House for several years. She was a beautiful, intelligent, insightful young woman in her 30s who profoundly blessed many with her gifts of counseling and prayer. Almost everyone was puzzled by the fact that she remained single.
She had a lovely face and figure, and her shiny auburn hair would have qualified her to pose for shampoo commercials. She dressed tastefully and attractively. Her bright personality was charming. She was conversant on a variety of subjects. Several counselees commented that they could not understand why men were not lined up at her door.
I’m not describing a superwoman who possessed an unflawed personality with whom no one could identify. Like the rest of us, she had wounds in her heart that needed to be healed and habits that had to be transformed. At that time there was a privateness about her that did not allow many to know her intimately. But neither was there a sign on her forehead telling people to remain at a distance.
Exhaustion; that’s the best word to describe how I’ve felt for the past two weeks. And there is no natural reason for it. I’ve been sleeping plenty. Drinking lots of water. Getting plenty of exercise. (Enjoying more than my quota of Starbucks!)
Yet the morning I penned this article—despite sleeping nine hours the night before—I went back to sleep for two hours after taking my daughter to school. And when I woke up, I was still exhausted—and disgusted.
I was starting to wonder what was wrong with me. And then I got a friendly reminder revelation from the Holy Spirit: It’s witchcraft. Wicked witchcraft. How could I forget? It caught me off guard. Now I'm warning you.
You might have to make a strategic move in order to fulfill God’s plan for your life.
During a recent conference in Georgia my friend Barbara Wentroble taught an insightful message from the book of Ruth. She pointed out that Ruth, a hopeless young gentile widow, never would have inherited God’s blessings if she had stayed in the forsaken land of Moab. She had to leave her home and travel to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Once Ruth was repositioned, she discovered God’s salvation and favor—and she ended up in the lineage of the Messiah.
The Bible is full of stories of people who had to move from one place to another to align with God’s plans. Abram and Sarai left their relatives in Ur; Moses had to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt; Nehemiah had to travel from Persia to Jerusalem. In the New Testament, Peter had to go to Cornelius’ house in Caesarea; Paul had to sail to Rome; and God had to scatter the disciples (see Acts 8:1) so they would fulfill the Great Commission.
Too many Christians in America would rather sit on the sidelines and argue over what does and doesnt qualify as a revival than actually expend the energy to pray and prepare their hearts for one.
This week I’m ministering at Trinity Christian Centre, one of Singapore’s largest churches. It is led today by Dominic Yeo, but for 30 years it was pastored by Naomi Dowdy, a brave American missionary who grew the church from about 250 believers in 1976 to more than 4,000 members in 2005. The Pentecostal congregation has grown even larger since then, when Dowdy set Yeo into his pastoral role so she could do more traveling ministry.
Dowdy is a friend and a spiritual mother in my life. I’ve ministered with her in Malaysia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Ukraine and other countries. I’ve gleaned from her leadership skills, benefited from her counsel and been inspired by her zeal for missions. I view her as one of the planet’s best examples of a female church leader. When I consider her amazing legacy I’m grieved that we don’t have more women like her.
The primary reason we have so few Naomi Dowdys today is that the church does not encourage trained and anointed women to step into leadership. A second reason is that many women have either disqualified themselves from taking on such roles, or they aren’t willing to face the criticism that inevitably comes when a woman defies tradition.
I agree with the makers of the 2011 film Courageous that Christian men should demonstrate integrity, sexual purity, family values and moral courage. But isn’t the same response needed from women? For every brave Abraham, David and Mordecai in the Bible there was a fearless Sarah, Abigail and Esther. God’s women don’t just sit around waiting for the guys to act when things get tough.
Many of you know I've endorsed Rick Santorum. To me he's the only real conservative and the one who is right on the moral issues. A press release came to me earlier today and I've cut and pasted it below. I urge the tens of thousands who will get this to forward it to friends who live in states who will vote on Super Tuesday. This race is so close that Bible-believing Christians CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE and help Santorum get the momentum to win the nomination and then the general election.
Why have I endorsed Santorum? It's easy: Not only is he right on the issues, but he's someone I consider "squeaky clean." I was interviewed on the PBS program Religion & Ethics and they wanted to know why I didn't endorse the other candidates. For Mitt Romney I'm concerned about how he's flip-flopped. And I'm wary of the fact that he's Mormon (although that doesn't prevent me from voting for him—it only makes it more difficult). And with Newt Gingrich I'm concerned his many moral failures (which he says he has repented of and I don't doubt that's true) shows a deep character flaw. But Rick Santorum has a good record, projects the image of a leader and has strong Christian values.
Do you ever feel that it is too late to fulfill the plan and purpose God has for your life?
If you do, let me encourage you. According to our country’s legal retirement years, I am several years past retirement age but still work and enjoy it. I work because I want to, not because I have to. Yet, I know that until God calls me home I will continue to walk in the destiny He has for me. God has promised in His Word that with long life and length of days will He satisfy me (see Ps. 91:16). I don’t allow my age to dictate what I can accomplish for God.
This year, for example, I still work PT at my job, write articles for my Web site, and continue to minister regularly, often traveling to different states and out of the country. I also attend church and special meetings on a regular basis and find time to enjoy my grandchildren. Walking in the destiny of God is fun and exciting!
God is calling His daughters to swallow their fears and step into a new level of faith and authority.
This week I’m ministering at Trinity Christian Centre, one of Singapore’s largest churches. It is led today by Dominic Yeo, but for 30 years it was pastored by Naomi Dowdy, a brave American missionary who grew the church from about 250 believers in 1976 to more than 4,000 members in 2005. The Pentecostal congregation has grown even larger since then, when Dowdy set Yeo into his pastoral role so she could do more traveling ministry.
Dowdy is a friend and a spiritual mother in my life. I’ve ministered with her in Malaysia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Ukraine and other countries. I’ve gleaned from her leadership skills, benefited from her counsel and been inspired by her zeal for missions. I view her as one of the planet’s best examples of a female church leader. When I consider her amazing legacy I’m grieved that we don’t have more women like her.
It's the political season in what many are saying is the most important presidential election of our lifetime, so I turned to my good friend, Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr., to be the guest editor for the January/February issue of Ministry Today. You can read the digital issues of the magazine by clicking on the cover images below.
Bishop Jackson has appeared on the CBS Evening News, Fox News' Special Report, The O'Reilly Factor and The Tavis Smiley Show. Bishop Jackson's articles have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
And why not? He's Harvard educated and very articulate—something the mainstream media respects. But at the same time Bishop Jackson is a great spokesman from a Christian perspective—he understands the believer's mandate to bring God's kingdom to earth. Bishop Jackson has a successful track record of growing churches and discipling believers. He hasn't strayed into liberal theology, and his integrity is above reproach.
Bishop Jackson also defies stereotypes. An African-American "bishop," he embodies the best—not the worst—of what that usually implies. He has solid conservative values when many African-American preachers just flow with liberal Democrats. But while conservative Republicans trust him and work closely with him, he doesn't join their ranks. He's a conservative Democrat who speaks boldly in the corridors of power about right and wrong, good and evil, and trust and betrayal.
On a personal basis, I have gotten to know and trust him over the years—first at networking meetings of leaders where I became impressed with his verbal contributions. I noticed that like the old E.F. Hutton commercials, when Bishop Jackson spoke, others listened.
Throughout biblical history you will see that God used young people, even children, especially when adults became spiritually redundant and the only progress was to recreate history, or "bring back those good old days." Looking back has its rewards but unfortunately creates feelings of nostalgia and morbidity.
You have to be dissatisfied with your present conditions, surroundings and supply of joy, peace, happiness, etc. before you will really look forward. So inevitably, God will allow things to run their course and people will become dissatisfied. Suddenly what was once exciting, fresh and tantalizing is now boring and repetitious. You are dull and the self-environment is uninteresting, dim and blunt. You can either sit and complain for as long as you can, or you can change it.
Make war with repetition, be at odds with dullness, spit out lukewarmness and start a fight with blah, blah, blah. You weren't born to be satisfied with "just enough" to keep you going. Once you've tasted of the better that is to come you never want to go back. Imagine driving a car forward, while looking in the mirror, hoping that what is behind you will assist your progress.
John 17 records Jesus’ last prayer before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He cried to God before His crucifixion. We don’t have to ask what Jesus was feeling before He was crushed for us. His desire is laid out clearly in John. He opens up His heart and lets us listen in on the most intimate moments of His life on earth.
John 17:24-26 says: “Father I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
“O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
“I AM AMERICA” SINGER KRISTA BRANCH TO PERFORM AT LIBERTY FORUM FEB. 25
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Feb. 21) – Singer Krista Branch, who gained notoriety when her underground Tea Party hit, “I Am America,” went viral on YouTube, will perform at the Chattanooga Tea Party’s Liberty Forum event Saturday, February 25, at Abba’s House in Hixson. The event will run from 1 to 4 p.m. with Krista performing a “mini-concert” prior to the start as well as singing during the event.
Krista has sung at tea party rallies and concerts around the nation and appeared on “Fox & Friends,” “The O'Reilly Factor” and other programs. Her song, "I Am America," was the official song of the Herman Cain campaign.
Krista developed her love for music at a young age, singing at a small church in east Texas. Krista now lives in Nashville, Tennessee where she is working on an upcoming album. She takes pride in being a devoted wife, mother, patriot and woman of deep faith.
In addition to Krista, the event will feature GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum and local, state and federal candidates and officials, who will address their vision for each of the different levels of government. The CTP will also offer refreshments to celebrate the tea party movement’s 3rd Anniversary.
Although there will be no cost to attend the event, donations will be welcomed to help defray costs.
The CTP also asks attendees to bring food donations, which will be collected for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.
The Chattanooga Tea Party is a non-partisan grassroots organization seeking to educate and inform its members and the public at large of the fundamental issues and struggles our country is facing. We are committed to energizing voters to become engaged in the process of solving the nation’s problems.
SANTORUM HEADLINES TEA PARTY’S THIRD ANNIVERSARY LIBERTY FORUM FEB. 25
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Feb. 16) – Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum will headline the Chattanooga Tea Party’s Liberty Forum on Saturday, February 25. The forum, which celebrates the tea party movement’s third anniversary, will offer citizens a chance to listen to and question candidates and leaders in national, state and local government offices.
Santorum was one of several invited presidential candidates and first to accept.
The event will run from 1p.m. to 4p.m. and will be hosted at Abba’s House, at 5208 Hixson Pike in Hixson, TN.
“We already have more than 20 confirmed officials and candidates at every level of government. Senator Santorum’s decision is just icing on our anniversary cake,” said Chattanooga Tea Party President Mark West.
Santorum currently leads in several national polls of GOP candidates. The former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania is well known for his commitment to traditional conservative and family values, and he helped author and pass key reforms, such as the landmark Welfare Reform Act.
In addition to Santorum, confirmed attendees include US Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and 3rd District challengers, Weston Wamp and Jean Howard Hill; State Senator Bo Watson, State Representatives Vince Dean and Richard Floyd, State Rep. candidate Mike Carter; County Mayor Jim Coppinger and County Commissioners Larry Henry, Tim Boyd, Joe Graham and Mitch McClure, challenger Marty Haynes; Sheriff Jim Hammond, County Trustee Bill Hullander; City Council members Carol Berz, Pam Ladd, Andrae McGary, Peter Murphy and Manny Rico; School Board members Mike Evatt, David Testerman and Rhonda Thurman; and U.S. Senatorial candidate Zack Poscevich.
Select speakers will address their vision for each of the different levels of government and there will be an opportunity for voters to interact with candidates and elected officials. The CTP will also offer refreshments to celebrate the tea party movement’s 3rd Anniversary.
“We launched our local group with a tax-day tea party event April 15, 2009,” West said. “Our event was one of 900 tea parties that day, a dramatic increase from the 50 tea parties on the first nationwide tea party event held six weeks earlier on February 27, 2009. Most of us who first met in early 2009 to prepare for that rally are still involved and contributing to our citizen activism. We’ve become close friends. And our focus has never wavered from demanding that federal, state and local governments adhere to their constitutional foundations, follow fiscal conservatism, and support free markets. We are pleased to be joining with ElectionDayTeaParty.com and dozens of other Tea Party groups around the nation in celebrating our movement’s anniversary.”
Although there will be no cost to attend the event, donations will be welcomed to help defray costs.
The Chattanooga Tea Party is a non-partisan grassroots organization seeking to educate and inform its members and the public at large of the fundamental issues and struggles our country is facing. We are committed to energizing voters to become engaged in the process of solving the nation’s problems.
The National Religious Broadcasters convention ended this week in Nashville, Tenn. For me it was a productive and busy time connecting with authors, talking business and making new contacts. The buzz on the floor this year was The Harbinger, which has been on the New York Times best-seller list for seven straight weeks. Author Jonathan Cahn was there to do media interviews and sign books.
But the other buzz was about the presidential election. Everywhere I turned people were talking about it. Since NRB tends to be conservative, it’s not a surprise that most of the attendees feel President Obama is taking the nation in the wrong direction. A lot of people asked me whom I was backing.
Although the Holy Spirit speaks expressly, we see through a glass darkly. Sure, it’s easy enough to understand the words of that still, small voice in your spirit. But impressions, dreams and visions aren’t always as clear as we’d like them to be—and reasoning blocks discernment.
I remember a time when a friend of mine was planning a trip to Los Angeles. She told me she was nervous about going, but I reasoned that it was a natural case of “the nerves” because she had an important meeting there. The week before she left, I started to get impressions that something bad was going to happen to her in Los Angeles. But it was like seeing through a glass darkly.
At first, I thought it was just fear. I was going through a major trial at the time and had so much coming at me from so many different directions that sorting through it all was more than a little challenging. Nevertheless, I pled the blood of Jesus and claimed the promises in Psalm 91 over my friend every day. The impressions—what I reasoned were imaginations—didn’t stop. Yet I never had a clear word of the Lord “come unto me saying.”
