Florida Outpouring -- "Come Get Some!"
For your reference:
Fresh Fire Ministries - This website has live webcasts of the revival
God TV - The British network that is broadcasting the revival every night from 7-11pm Eastern (Channel 365 on DirecTV)
Todd Bentley - Wikipedia - The guy who's leading the revival (his homepage is under the Fresh Fire website)
Roy Fields' homepage - The worship leader who looks like John the Baptist and sounds like he's from the South, even though he's from upstate New York.
---
I first became aware of this Revival when Bro. Ben sent me an email. At the time, I couldn't watch it on the internet because my computer didn't work, and I didn't know the Schneids got it on their TV. I went one night to watch it with the Claytons at home while Sis. Lisa and some other ladies from City of Refuge went down there for the first trip.
I watched the Revival on TV myself and enjoyed what I saw, but I had a few reservations. First, I didn't see very much scripture teaching; secondly, it seemed to center too much around Todd Bentley. The Lord showed me these things clearly when Bro. Todd started preaching (and also mentioned that they had morning services, untelevised, that were more deeply involved in scripture) and then he told the audience to "get the fire from each other." Some started moving towards the stage, then he shouted, "Don't come get it from me, get the fire from one another!" This cleared up both issues, and I quickly became convinced that I needed to be down there as soon as my schedule would allow.
City of Refuge, the church in New Orleans where Bro. Ben preaches, decided that this was the weekend for the trip to Lakeland. They even offered to bring the college students along for free. This is a small church, so for the ones who couldn't make the trip, they could just tell them, "hey, no service this weekend." They rented a 12-passenger van and picked us up at the Claytons' house in Slidell, where we embarked on a 12-hour drive on Thursday, arriving early Friday morning.
At the Friday morning service, the preacher called out for anyone with chemical dependencies. I realized that my lust addiction is really just a dependency on the endorphins my body releases when I...you get the idea. Got prayed for, all that good stuff. Friday night's worship was great, I enjoyed getting to dance in the service. Reminded me of EverDeeper...only issue was the fact that we had a dozen little kids running around in the area I was trying to dance. And when I was laid out, these kids didn't walk anywhere, but ran everywhere they went, shaking the floor with every pass.
On Saturday morning, I brought in a guitar Bro. Ben had brought along. A couple weeks ago, the Lord told him to buy a guitar, bring it along, and get it anointed. He purchased a Breedlove Atlas 12-string. During worship, I kept falling asleep, so I just picked up the guitar and took it all the way to the back so I could play it and worship by myself. I already had a pre-planned defense in case somebody from the staff asked me to put it away ("I'm not bothering anybody," "I'm playing along," "You're okay with people dancing, waving flags, blowing shofars....."). After awhile, I just strapped it on and sat back.
One of the staff, Bro. Bob, came over to me and asked me why I had brought in the guitar. I first told him directly, "Pastor Ben wanted to bring this here to get it anointed." I was ready to give my aforementioned defense, but it wasn't necessary. Bro. Bob began to tell me how he was a drummer when he was in the world and lost his rhythm after he got saved, how he would occasionally pick up a conga or drum set when he was needed, but generally stayed away from drumming. Then, two years ago, the Lord told him to go on stage and pick up an unused djembe from the stage and start playing it. Confused by the possible disruption to worship, he waited, but still felt the urge. After getting permission from the worship leader, he went to playing, the Lord spoke, and said, "You'll be playing my heartbeat." Sure enough, people told him later on, "I felt like you were playing the heartbeat of God over me!"
Following this story, Bro. Bob encouraged me to go up and get prayer from Roy, who had done the preaching and was laying hands on people, and to ask for the same anointing Roy has on his life. When I got to the altar, the lady acting as traffic cop at the altar asked me if I was "gonna get laid out wearing that thing." Bro. Bob popped up from behind me and said, "He's gotta get prayed for with it on, it's a part of him!" When Roy came to me, he just smiled and reached straight for the guitar, laid hands on it, and prayed over it. Then, he reached beyond to pray over me, and told me, "Don't write anymore, just worship!" Sure enough, Bro. Bob was there to catch me when I got laid out.
The Lord also did a work for healing my back and bringing me back into the heart of worship. Saturday night was the best worship service I've been at in a long time. While we were there, we even met a fellow who had come from Australia by way of Uganda. John Osbourne was a tall, lanky fellow with that accent you hear on TV but never encounter because you don't know anyone from Australia. He came to lunch with us and Prophet Charles wanted us to gather and pray over him. I was wearing that ancient black cap with the white cross on it that I made back in high school. The Lord told me to give him the hat to take with him wherever the Lord was sending him. I'd had that hat longer than I've known most of you, even longer than I've been named Zechariah. Some of you are probably glad that I got rid of it, I just see it as Bring It! Ministries going international!
---
I know some of you are probably a bit skeptical about this revival, whether you've seen it before or are just hearing of it for the first time. I can say from my experience that God is doing a work there, and that it really does make a difference to take time out of your schedule to get down there. But don't take my word for it -- experience it yourself. Come expecting God to move. God has drawn me back in, and left me with one message for everyone: "Fall in love with Jesus!" If you're on the right path, it'll take you further; if you've strayed from the path, it'll bring you back on; if you've never known the right path, it'll get you on it. I sit here and think how much I want to go back, but I realize I just want to be in the presence of God, both alone and with others.
Fresh Fire Ministries - This website has live webcasts of the revival
God TV - The British network that is broadcasting the revival every night from 7-11pm Eastern (Channel 365 on DirecTV)
Todd Bentley - Wikipedia - The guy who's leading the revival (his homepage is under the Fresh Fire website)
Roy Fields' homepage - The worship leader who looks like John the Baptist and sounds like he's from the South, even though he's from upstate New York.
---
I first became aware of this Revival when Bro. Ben sent me an email. At the time, I couldn't watch it on the internet because my computer didn't work, and I didn't know the Schneids got it on their TV. I went one night to watch it with the Claytons at home while Sis. Lisa and some other ladies from City of Refuge went down there for the first trip.
I watched the Revival on TV myself and enjoyed what I saw, but I had a few reservations. First, I didn't see very much scripture teaching; secondly, it seemed to center too much around Todd Bentley. The Lord showed me these things clearly when Bro. Todd started preaching (and also mentioned that they had morning services, untelevised, that were more deeply involved in scripture) and then he told the audience to "get the fire from each other." Some started moving towards the stage, then he shouted, "Don't come get it from me, get the fire from one another!" This cleared up both issues, and I quickly became convinced that I needed to be down there as soon as my schedule would allow.
City of Refuge, the church in New Orleans where Bro. Ben preaches, decided that this was the weekend for the trip to Lakeland. They even offered to bring the college students along for free. This is a small church, so for the ones who couldn't make the trip, they could just tell them, "hey, no service this weekend." They rented a 12-passenger van and picked us up at the Claytons' house in Slidell, where we embarked on a 12-hour drive on Thursday, arriving early Friday morning.
At the Friday morning service, the preacher called out for anyone with chemical dependencies. I realized that my lust addiction is really just a dependency on the endorphins my body releases when I...you get the idea. Got prayed for, all that good stuff. Friday night's worship was great, I enjoyed getting to dance in the service. Reminded me of EverDeeper...only issue was the fact that we had a dozen little kids running around in the area I was trying to dance. And when I was laid out, these kids didn't walk anywhere, but ran everywhere they went, shaking the floor with every pass.
On Saturday morning, I brought in a guitar Bro. Ben had brought along. A couple weeks ago, the Lord told him to buy a guitar, bring it along, and get it anointed. He purchased a Breedlove Atlas 12-string. During worship, I kept falling asleep, so I just picked up the guitar and took it all the way to the back so I could play it and worship by myself. I already had a pre-planned defense in case somebody from the staff asked me to put it away ("I'm not bothering anybody," "I'm playing along," "You're okay with people dancing, waving flags, blowing shofars....."). After awhile, I just strapped it on and sat back.
One of the staff, Bro. Bob, came over to me and asked me why I had brought in the guitar. I first told him directly, "Pastor Ben wanted to bring this here to get it anointed." I was ready to give my aforementioned defense, but it wasn't necessary. Bro. Bob began to tell me how he was a drummer when he was in the world and lost his rhythm after he got saved, how he would occasionally pick up a conga or drum set when he was needed, but generally stayed away from drumming. Then, two years ago, the Lord told him to go on stage and pick up an unused djembe from the stage and start playing it. Confused by the possible disruption to worship, he waited, but still felt the urge. After getting permission from the worship leader, he went to playing, the Lord spoke, and said, "You'll be playing my heartbeat." Sure enough, people told him later on, "I felt like you were playing the heartbeat of God over me!"
Following this story, Bro. Bob encouraged me to go up and get prayer from Roy, who had done the preaching and was laying hands on people, and to ask for the same anointing Roy has on his life. When I got to the altar, the lady acting as traffic cop at the altar asked me if I was "gonna get laid out wearing that thing." Bro. Bob popped up from behind me and said, "He's gotta get prayed for with it on, it's a part of him!" When Roy came to me, he just smiled and reached straight for the guitar, laid hands on it, and prayed over it. Then, he reached beyond to pray over me, and told me, "Don't write anymore, just worship!" Sure enough, Bro. Bob was there to catch me when I got laid out.
The Lord also did a work for healing my back and bringing me back into the heart of worship. Saturday night was the best worship service I've been at in a long time. While we were there, we even met a fellow who had come from Australia by way of Uganda. John Osbourne was a tall, lanky fellow with that accent you hear on TV but never encounter because you don't know anyone from Australia. He came to lunch with us and Prophet Charles wanted us to gather and pray over him. I was wearing that ancient black cap with the white cross on it that I made back in high school. The Lord told me to give him the hat to take with him wherever the Lord was sending him. I'd had that hat longer than I've known most of you, even longer than I've been named Zechariah. Some of you are probably glad that I got rid of it, I just see it as Bring It! Ministries going international!
---
I know some of you are probably a bit skeptical about this revival, whether you've seen it before or are just hearing of it for the first time. I can say from my experience that God is doing a work there, and that it really does make a difference to take time out of your schedule to get down there. But don't take my word for it -- experience it yourself. Come expecting God to move. God has drawn me back in, and left me with one message for everyone: "Fall in love with Jesus!" If you're on the right path, it'll take you further; if you've strayed from the path, it'll bring you back on; if you've never known the right path, it'll get you on it. I sit here and think how much I want to go back, but I realize I just want to be in the presence of God, both alone and with others.