Lakeland Revival and Ministry Weekend

My wife Nancy, daughter Sharon Rose and I have been at the Lakeland, Florida Revival for the past two days. This two-month-old outpouring of God’s grace is led by Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley and is noteworthy for several reasons, including many notable physical healings reported and over 20 (apparently substantiated) reports of people raised from the dead. This is the first major revival being covered in over 200 countries on live TV (God TV) and world-wide on the internet (freshfire.ca) with many of the reported miracles coming from people watching at home.

As with other contemporary outpouring-type revivals like Toronto and Brownsville, thousands of people (4,000 each on the two nights we attended) are coming from all over the world every single night of the week. There were people from at least 30 different countries in attendance in the meetings we attended.

The powerful, loud, rock-style worship music was led (for the two nights we attended) by the Heather Clark Band and is strong, anointed and altogether wonderful. The people crowd the platform like a rock concert to worship for a good part of the five straight hours each night. The bass guitar sets the aggressive attitude of the music and perfectly matches Todd Bentley who is covered with tattoos, wears a number of earrings and piercings, bald head, beard and a Harley-Davidson shirt. As a matter of fact, the entire revival has almost a biker feel to it; very blue collar; lots of Harley shirts, biker vests and in-your-face Christian tee shirts.

We arrived both nights well before 5:00 pm to get good seats for the official 7:00 pm start of the service and each night we stayed until after midnight when the service ended. Todd Bentley is a passionate exhorter with a gift of faith for healing and miracles. There was no official preached message in the meetings we attended but after the first two hours of worship, Bentley essentially moved back and forth from prophecy to exhortation to healing to testimonies. Many people with serious health conditions came forward and testified of healing (sort of Benny Hinn style) and Bentley prays with evidence of power as most people fall over, some dramatically. It is heartbreaking to see the sick people who are so desperate for a healing touch from God and it is wonderful to see people healed. An example was an elderly woman who came with a walker and was running back and forth across the platform. The dear woman was just overjoyed to be able to move freely after years of disability.

For me, the best part was the palpable presence of God in the worship. To be with 4,000 people from all over the world who are hungry for a touch from God and to feel the living presence of God is such a wonderful thing. My daughter, Sharon, had the sensation of heat on her hands for over an hour and both Nancy and I felt God’s love filling our bodies and refreshing our souls. Outstanding! If anyone is interested, I will be organizing a church trip to the revival in Lakeland, Florida within the next month or so. Keep watching for details.

We have a great weekend of ministry coming up. Pastor Bob and Cara Grimm from Walla Walla, Washington will be our guests. They oversee Christian Life Center in Walla Walla which is where my son, David, is pastor of Generation Ministries. The Grimms lead a very fast growing church with a strong youth orientation. Come and be blessed by their passion and fire for God! Check our web site for details on this weekend’s activities: www.cmcconline.org

See You Sunday!