According to Tim Gibb, pastor of Bethel Pentecostal Church in Sarnia, Ontario, the first hint revival would hit his church took place in January 2006, when he attended Rodney Howard-Browne meetings in Florida. In fact, Gibbs ended up down there because of a recurring vision he had of Howard-Browne.
During one of the meetings, Tim was called out and prayed for. At that moment he felt a deposit of the Holy Spirit in his life. But it was an incident at the book table that caused him to take note. In period of 15 minutes he had three people come up to him and give him in total $400. He was told it was for purchasing material for the upcoming revival.
When he returned home, nothing happened for about three months. Then March 29th, at a meeting featuring a Kentucky evangelist Reva Kasey, God showed up. Gibbs had just introduced Mrs Kasey and sat down. He turned to those sitting beside him and commented "I see the Glory of God in this place, like a haze."
Mrs. Kasey was about to read her opening scripture when she stopped and said "I see a glory cloud of God's presence in this place, like a haze."
At that point Gibb, jumped up exclaiming he said the exact same thing moments earlier to the people sitting around him.
A number of people described it as a blue haze. One testified he cleaned the lenses on his glasses thinking they were smudged. While others thought their eyes were blurring and rubbed them in an effort to clear their vision.
But it was apparent God revealed Himself in a dynamic display of His glory reminiscent of 2 Chron 5. The Temple of Solomon was just completed and the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Holy of Holies for the first time.. The Bible says a cloud of God's glory fell on the temple so thick, the priests were unable to minister (v 1, 7, 13 & 14).
That night the revival started in Bethel Pentecostal and is still going strong.
During the formative days of the revival, the church had nightly meetings running between 100 and 500 people. It didn't matter how many showed up as the people pressed into God, the Holy Spirit moved on the group.
As the revival matured, they became sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Each meeting had its own unique flavour. Some nights a Holy Awe descended and others broke out into celebration and dance.
Sign and wonders
One of the key features of this revival is the display of signs and wonders. This is demonstrated in a number of ways, from deliverance to baptism of the Holy Spirit to dramatic healings.
The signs and wonders resulted in a marked increase in church attendance and salvations -- at least one person has been saved in every meeting and as many as a hundred.
In one meeting a man who had cancer under his eyes was healed. The doctor who was seeing the man sent an email stating "Where cancer was once present, it is no more, call it what you want, he is cancer free," he said.
The word about the healings has spread into the community. A Buddhist showed up looking for prayer because he heard healings were taking place there.
The healings have also moved out beyond the church walls. Groups went out and prayed for the sick in parks and schools -- healings and salvations followed their ministry.
Lives restored
In addition, God is restoring lives. People struggling with depression and addictions are set free. One young teenage girl was convicted and saved in a service. Two days later while attending another service she left and returned with two garbage bags full of drug paraphernalia and items she believed had a hold on her.
After one meeting a man pulled one of the pastors aside and said he had been estranged from his parents for about four years. During a service in October, God spoke to him about contacting his parents. He phoned them after the meeting. It was an incredible reunion. He found out during their four year estrangement his parents, like him, were saved and praying for reconciliation.
A young girl living in a group home started attending services. She was saved and so dramatically converted she couldn't wait for a regularly scheduled baptism service and was baptized in Lake Huron by the youth pastor. She started inviting friends from the home to the services. One of the leaders of the home even ended up attending a service, because she had seen such a dramatic change in the girls.
God moves on youth
The revival also resulted in a significant move of the Holy Spirit among the youth. At a meeting on June 1st, 2006, there was a call to students in attendance to come forward for prayer for an anointing of the Holy Spirit to share their faith.
The results were almost immediate. Students were filled with the Holy Spirit and emboldened to share their faith.
It also caused a bit of a stir at a couple local high schools.
Two newspaper reports in the Sarnia Observer tell the story of Kyle Lubbers a grade 11 student at St. Clair Secondary school. He was kicked out of school in June for the worst of all crimes -- he was praying for the sick.
Three weeks prior to this incident, Kyle had attended the revival meetings and was born again. He began attending the nightly meetings and started praying for the sick and saw God move through him with healing power. Prior to his conversion, he was into drugs and skipping classes.
While in school, Kyle decided to pray for students with sprains and head aches.
Kyle's problems started when he asked the principle of the Catholic school if he could take it up a notch and preach and pray for kids at school. The principal said no. So at lunch time Kyle and a student from another school went across the street to the parking lot of a nearby church to record some of the healing testimonies and as well to pray for any of the students needed healing.
As news of the gathering swept through the student population a crowd of upwards to a 100 students congregated in the parking lot.
When the principal found out about this gathering off school property he promptly suspended Kyle for a day. Tim Gibbs found out what had happened, he was concerned about the principal's action since it was noon time and they were off school property. He thought the move was a bit discriminatory. Tim's dad, Peter -- who is also born-again - understood the principal's concerns about the safety of the students, but nevertheless felt his son should have the freedom to pray for the sick as long as he wasn't disrupting classes.
But Kyle took it all in stride. On the day he was suspended Kyle and a friend Josh Pitka decided to go to St Patrick's High School to pray for the kids there. A crowd of about 50 students gathered around them. Initially they mocked the two boys, but it when the healing started. After about an hour, the two were asked to leave school property which they did. He said when he returns to school he plans to keep praying for the sick, adding "We live in a free country where we hav
Kyle's father who is born again is strongly supportive of his son's desire to pray for the sick at school. was .
If you would like more information on the Sarnia Revival go to: http://www.sarniarevival.com/.
Source: http://www.openheaven.com/ / Sarnia Observer / http://www.sarniarevival.com/ /
|
