Dr Mike Brown, of Global Resource Ministries International, taught at Brownsville Assemblies of God in Pensacola, Florida.  He wrote the Pensacola Update report in December 1996 when the revival had been going for a year and a half with over 60,000 commitments to Christ.  Over 100,000 conversions were reported in 5 years.

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the glorious fruit of tens of thousands of radically changed lives

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I thought it would be appropriate to send you a 1996 revival update.  We can then join together in giving thanks for these glorious days of visitation in which we are living.  Who knows what God will do in 1997 ‑ if we seek Him with all our hearts, walk humbly before Him, and are careful to obey His Word?  The possibilities are staggering.

With no attempt to be systematic or to follow any chronological order, let me give you some of the highlights from the last few months.  (This would have come sooner, but with the intensity of the revival schedule, the relocation of our ministry offices ‑ and family! ‑ to Pensacola, and the raising up of our ministry training school, it was almost impossible to get out a timely update.)  Here is just a small glimpse of what has been happening (and as I write, it is sometimes difficult to hold back the tears of joy).

Youth Revival

The Spirit continues to fall among the young people ‑ dramatically.  One Saturday night service, multiplied hundreds of students, from grade school to college, were called to the front of the church.  There were far too many to put on the platform, so they filled the front area.  When we prayed for them in mass, the Spirit fell on them in awesome power, and most of them collapsed to the floor, consumed with God’s presence.  After we continued to worship and intercede for our schools (‘God, give us our schools!’), we were about to dismiss the young people back to their seats when, suddenly and unexpectedly, some of them began to weep and wail in intercession.

Soon, most of them were caught up with the burden for their lost generation ‑ and the weeping and intercession became intense.  There was no formal preaching that night, but the altars were filled with lost and backslidden people.  If there ever was a service to attend, it was Saturday night, 12 October, 1996 (The video is called Intercession for Our Schools).

During a Thursday night youth service with about 700 in attendance (this is the one night that the teens have their own meeting), conviction fell during the worship.  One of the Brownsville young people had a word about some of the kids having sinful, idolatrous things in their possession.  There were about 300 kids visiting that night.

Spontaneously, they began to throw dozens of packs of cigarettes on the platform, then condoms, then joint paper, then joints (and, apparently, other drugs), then diet and prescription pills.  The pile was so big that it filled a large, kitchen‑size garbage bag!  When the sheriff of the county, who happened to be in the main sanctuary that night, heard what was happening in the youth chapel, he was escorted over to see things first hand.  His comment?  ‘This is what will change America!’ Several weeks later, his daughter was saved in one of the services. Yes Lord!

Depth of Conviction

It seems that everything is increasing in intensity: the levels of praise, worship, and warfare, sometimes breaking out spontaneously and continuing for long periods of time; the numbers of souls responding to the altar calls; the depth of conviction.  It is very common to see repentant sinners and backsliders drop their heads when you look at them ‑ even when you’re trying to encourage them with a gentle smile.  They’re too ashamed of their sins ‑ until they know they have all been washed away.

At other times, even after my daytime teaching sessions for leaders and hungry believers, the Lord’s presence has been so heavy that people have tried to make it out to their cars, only to collapse on their faces, or on their backs, or to their knees on the grass outside.  It is a sight to see!

On one such day, the Spirit began to move on the line outside (they line up as early as 4 am now, or even sleep in the parking lot at night so as to be the first on line), and people began to fall under the power and repent of sin right there in the public lot ‑ without anyone even praying for them. You can’t contain revival in a building!

One night, three young black women made their way to the altar, all of them shaking, and the middle teenager literally being carried down by her friends.  She was coming forward to get saved and was under such conviction that her friends had to support her as she tried to walk, her arms draped over the other girls, much like an injured football player is helped to the sidelines.  That’s the way to come to the Lord ‑ utterly helpless and dependent.

Another night, early in his message, Steve Hill had a word for an unsaved young man named Scott.  The Lord revealed his desperate condition to Steve, so he urged him to get right that night.  At the end of the altar call ‑ to which, we learned later from Scott’s brother, he did not respond ‑‑ Steve had a word for a military man that had resisted God all his life.  He told him to respond now.  At that moment, a young man came rushing forward to surrender his life to the Lord.  It was Scott, the military man.  Talk about being singled out by the Lord!

A few weeks ago, two lesbians who had been living together and using drugs for years got right with God, ending their sinful relationship.  Their baptismal testimonies the week following were glorious.  One of the women had previously been married, and she had brought her son into the home with this other woman to live with them.  (She confessed this with great sorrow at her baptism.) The night she got saved, she went home and told her son what happened.  He said, ‘My prayers have been answered!’

Transformed lives

At this point, you might be wondering, ‘Well, what happens to all these people who get saved? Are they going on with God?’ Yes they are.  Of course, I can’t account for every single one, but I can account for many.  In fact, some of them are coming to our School of Ministry beginning next month!

To give you one case in point, a man from Chicago named Mark was an alcoholic for seventeen years, with a terrible family life as a result.  He was dramatically saved and instantly delivered right in his home, watching a 700 Club report on the revival.

That was in September.  When I saw him in November, he looked so different.  He was in the midst of a 40 day fast; his marriage and home were transformed; his brother and wife were wonderfully touched; and he and his brother had brought their construction crew to Pensacola with them (they own a construction company).  The whole crew got saved!  Some of these men are now candidates to attend our school.

You may have heard the testimony of Robert Lowell, the wealthy businessman who was radically converted when we came to the revival at the beginning of 1996 to pull his wife out.  The whole family has been touched, and in the Fall, one of their daughters got married to an Iranian Muslim, her fiancé who had also been saved in the revival.  They got married on a Saturday afternoon and were in church that night.  That’s revival!  Why?  They had so many unsaved friends and relatives with them that they couldn’t miss the opportunity to bring them to the evening meeting.  At the end of the altar call, the young bride turned to her lifelong close friend (and member of her bridal party), asking her if she wanted to give her life to Jesus.  I could only weep as I saw the two them make their way to the altar, dissolving in tears as they knelt side by side.  What a wedding present!  A good number of weeks later, I asked the bride what happened to her friends.  She told me that all of her unsaved friends in the bridal party (along with one tragically backslidden girl) got right with God that week ‑ and all of them were on fire.  What can you say?

The life and death urgency of the hour has been underscored to us when we hear of lost sinners getting saved, and then suddenly dying one or two days later.  And there was no warning that they were sick or in ill health.  They got saved, and then they were gone.  This has happened several times now.

Even more striking was the case of a man who was in the meeting, felt conviction, and ran from it, ending up at the pool hall playing pool with three of his drinking buddies.  But the conviction there was even more intense, so he left his three friends and returned to the church, giving his life to Jesus at the end of the night.  It was just in time.  He found out later that, shortly after he left the pool hall, the three friends drove off in their Chevy Corvette which was almost totally disintegrated moments later after a 100 mile per hour crash.  Two were killed instantly; the third critically injured.  This man would have been among them, had he not responded to the Spirit’s pull.  He was literally snatched out of the fire!

Interest in the revival has increased.  In recent months, the Pentecostal Evangel ‑ the international magazine of the Assemblies of God ‑ devoted 15 pages to the revival, the Dallas Morning News ran a front‑page story about the outpouring in its Sunday morning edition (by the way, it was the front page of the main section of the paper, not the religion section), and Charisma Now aired a powerful TV special on the revival.  Denominational leaders in the Church of God, Southern Baptists, and United Methodists (among others) have been wonderfully touched, and our recent ministers conference was attended by leaders from about forty nations.  This is in addition to the large number of leaders ‑ ranging from 300‑500 ‑ who attend every week.  And best of all, the fire is spreading!

Fire is spreading

A Southern Baptist testified to a dramatic rise in spiritual hunger in his church since he attended the meetings.  His son, the youth pastor was living in compromise and hardness ‑ until God sternly dealt with him and totally turned him around.  Back at the pastor’s church, after a special series of meetings ended, congregants showed up at the church anyway, even though the services had ended.  They were so hungry for the Lord that they climbed into the building through a hole in a broken window.  And these are Southern Baptists!

Friends of mine from Phoenix visited Pensacola and went back ignited.  The Spirit began moving freely in the services, the power of God fell in unprecedented ways for that fellowship, people began repenting, some of then fasting and gathering for 6 am prayer, the young people got turned on and starting witnessing to all their friends, winning some of them to the Lord.  Such stories are common now around the country!

One Spanish‑speaking youth pastor from Texas with a teens group averaging 8‑10 kids returned from Pensacola on fire, and he and his wife began preaching repentance to their group.  Six weeks later they were running 120 kids in the meetings!  And in many cities, where disunity and lack of cooperation had been the rule, pastors are now gathering together in sizable numbers for special leadership meetings, repenting with many tears, confessing their sins, and committing to pray and cry out … That’s the key!

One of my former students, an associate pastor in a Messianic congregation, showed the children at the congregational school the video featuring eight year old Whitney Lane sharing her burden for the lost ‑ until she breaks down crying.  He invited the kids who wanted a similar burden to come forward for prayer and then, to his amazement, the younger kids there (ages 5‑8 especially) began to weep, sob, and shake ‑ for forty‑five minutes!  A number of them had visions of heaven, hell, and Jesus, some of them dramatic.  He arrived home with a plastic bag full of the tissues these little ones had soaked with their tears.  Jesus is moving in the land!

And here’s a personal illustration of the love of God.  A Filipino pastor from Chicago felt that he just had to attend the revival services.  He arrived at the church by way of Orlando on 10 December, only to find out they we were in the midst of a break until 3 January.  He was totally crestfallen, coming back the next day with the hope that the services would somehow resume.  Of course, they did not; but the revival itself continues.  He then received an out‑of‑the‑blue invitation to speak in Toms River, New Jersey that weekend.  It was there that he learned that the very next day ‑ this past Monday ‑ I would be speaking at a special ministers’ gathering in – you guessed it! ‑ Toms River.  So, from Chicago to Orlando to Pensacola to Orlando to Toms River ‑ he got in the river!  You can’t limit the goodness of God.

Finally, I should mention that there seems to be an increase in powerful healings these days, and this too is often taking place outside of Pensacola.  A well‑respected pastor in Wisconsin, a man whose church has been in the midst of an outpouring since visiting us in June, told me personally about the documented healing of a baby born blind.  She is fine today, after receiving prayer from the leaders in that church.  Isn’t God awesome?

When God starts moving, everyone falls into place: The hungry press forward and are filled, the lost are drawn in and the backsliders drawn home, the laborers are raised up and thrust out ‑ and the critics criticize!  What else could we expect?

Actually, we ought to pity those who cannot recognize the glorious fruit of tens of thousands of radically changed lives because of a little shaking (as if God’s presence makes mountains and houses shake ‑ but not people!) or falling (as if it is illogical or unscriptural for someone to be overcome by God’s power).  They reject the Spirit because they don’t like the style.  Pity their souls and pray for those whom they mislead.  We don’t want anyone to be left out.

A few months ago the Lord said to me that soon it will be an embarrassment to be associated with the critics.  Day by day, the truth of that word is becoming clearer and clearer.  I would hate to find myself standing in the path of a divine tidal wave, shaking my skeptical fist and shouting, ‘That’s not God!’

Please hear my heart: We are literally on the verge of seeing the Spirit’s fire sweep through whole public schools, ignite whole regions, and shake our nation from bottom to top. Young and old will meet their God, and the nation could very well be transformed.  For the first time in my life, real revival across America is within range.  Let’s press in without compromise until the whole country is ablaze.  It really is time.  As Steve Hill often cries out at the altar calls, What are you waiting for?

Reproduced from the Awakening e-mail mailing.

© Renewal Journal 9: Mission, 1997, 2nd edition 2011
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The devil’s work?  Not according to Steve Hill who calls himself a missionary evangelist, having spent seven years on the Argentinian mission field.  He commented, ‘I don’t try to explain the manifestations.  I look for what God is doing in people’s lives.’  When as many as 1,000 people get converted a week and lives are dramatically changed, Hill is convinced this is the Lord’s work, not Satan’s!

Prophesied by Cho

News of the Brownsville revival ‑ incidentally, Pensacola is in the northwestern part of Florida ‑ began filtering across the world around October 1995.  The Pentecostal Evangel reported that in 1991 Dr David Yonggi Cho was praying for America while holding meetings in Seattle, Washington.  Suddenly the Lord told him to get a map.  He did so and the Holy Spirit directed him to point his finger at the Florida panhandle and to the quiet city of Pensacola.

Dr Cho then prophesied, ‘I am going to send revival to the seaside city of Pensacola and it will spread like a fire until all of America has been consumed by it.’

The word spread to Pensacola ministers.  Serious about revival, John Kilpatrick, described as a gentle‑natured pastor, had church members commence praying on Sunday nights, particularly for their own city and its political leaders, the school system, and leaders of every denomination.  Their prayer, and Dr Cho’s prophetic word, are being fulfilled!

The events of that Father’s Day service have occurred repeatedly night after night since, along with amazing healings, miracles, restored marriages and wonderful salvations.  Healings are even happening without the laying on of hands and prayer.  Sometimes distressed couples, including those divorced, have gone forward for salvation not knowing their partner or former partner was doing the same thing.  Gloriously saved they have then found each other again and been restored.

God’s Chain of Grace

The spectrum of those being saved is a wide one ‑ crack dealers to troubled teenagers to Satan worshippers to those in shaky marriages to strippers to the hard working poor to the wealthy.  People get saved, then bring their friends and family who also become converted.  Steve Hill refers to it all as ‘God’s chain of grace.’

And the fire has spread in the Bible Belt!  Many from other denominations, including Methodists and Baptists, attend the five nights a week meetings and in several cases the revival fires have now erupted in other church sanctuaries.  ‘Swimming in the river of God’ has become a popular Brownsville theme that has been readily taken up by other ministers and churches.

Nowadays if you want to attend a 7 pm Brownsville AOG service, you’ll need to queue up at 3.30 pm in the afternoon!  You’ll be among visitors from the States, Canada, Korea, Australia, Uganda, Brazil, UK …  400,000 had attended ‘the Pensacola Outpouring’ by the April 1996 count.  The town itself has only a population of 80,000.

Charisma reports that the church ‑ ‘nondescript and just blocks from bingo parlours and a topless lounge in a Southern city best known for beaches and seafood’ ‑ spends $150 a night on drinking water, $4,000 a month for child care, and $4,000 per month for extra car park security as some services run to 3 am.

Notable Differences

What’s different about the ‘Brownsville harvest,’ compared to the ‘Toronto’ blessing and ‘Sunderland’ revival?

In the main, it is probably the fact that the emphasis has been on salvation from the start with signs and wonders secondary.  The church has been serious in its praying for revival and that’s what it’s received.

Also, much weeping in repentance and heavy conviction at the altar is another dominant feature.

Thirdly, neither John Kilpatrick or Steve Hill are particularly anxious to leave the church to be special speakers around the world.  They are totally, as Steve Hill puts it, ‘committed at the Brownsville revival.’  In fact Hill, who was only supposed to minister once at the Father’s Day service, but has been there since, has moved his family from Texas to Brownsville.

Despite the overwhelming nature of all that has happened and the growing worldwide publicity, the Brownsville assembly remains humble and mystified as to why the Spirit has visited them in this way.  But they are rejoicing in the Lord at the results which haven’t stopped coming since the fire fell.

AOG Approved

Many American AOG ministers, previously critical of the recent move of the Spirit and sceptical about the ‘Pensacola Outpouring’ have had a change of heart since attending the Brownsville church, and doing unexpected extended carpet time.  Visiting with a determination that there was no way they would fall on the floor, they found themselves overwhelmed by the presence of God and getting up from the altar as long as three hours later.  Dramatically changed, their own churches are now swimming in the river of God.

Assistant General Superintendent, Charles Crabtree, was a speaker at the April Pensacola Harvest Revival Ministers’ Conference in Brownsville and was visibly touched by all that was happening there.  General Superintendent Thomas Trask is a godly man who definitely desires spiritual revival, and reports indicate that what is happening at Brownsville is warmly endorsed by the AOG Executive Presbytery, Springfield.

The Pensacola fire is spreading, impacting the Assemblies of God in particular; and those who are thirsting for more of God and old time revival are experiencing it.

Australians can learn!

Adrian and Kathy Gray, senior pastors Mount Annan Christian Life Centre, Campbelltown (NSW), where the river of God has been flowing mightily for some time, have just returned from Pensacola.  They write:

One of the most outstanding harvest revivals of our time is taking place in Brownsville.  A number of things stand out very clearly about this revival church:

* As a whole it is very focused on what the Lord has called them to do ‑ build up the saints and win the lost.

* They are definitely some of the most passionate people in revival that we have been among.

* The prayer, intercession and travail that occurs during the altar times is among the most intense that we have seen anywhere in the world.  Literally hundreds receive Christ every night.

Those receiving Christ are encouraged to do three main things:

* Come back to the revival meetings each night.

* Bring their family and friends.

* Follow the Lord into the waters of baptism.

Over 4,000 people were in the first meeting we attended.  A powerful service; over 200 people came to Christ and 32 were water baptised.  Every night, 14 year‑old Charity sings Mercy Seat and people run to the altar.  Unbelievable!  We are expecting this harvest anointing to ‘come home with us’ as we are particularly hungry for God to begin such a revival in our church.

Australians can learn a tremendous amount from the way the Lord is pouring out his presence in this church.  Our nation is ready for revival so let’s keep a spirit of faith, expect the harvest, and pray, ‘More, Lord!’

Moving Into the Harvest Challenge

These are still exciting days!   Let’s not drop this current move of God as some churches have done, let’s not fail to embrace it either as some have done, and let’s not keep it in-house as a local bless me club, but see it spill out in evangelism to win thousands into the kingdom.

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 Sunderland, England: Renewal moves into Harvest

Joy magazine reports that Sunderland Christian Centre (SCC) is experiencing a new and more powerful wave of the Holy Spirit as the church enters the second phase of the move of God.

Along with an amazing explosion of prayer, the church is experiencing some outstanding healings.

A New Emphasis

Senior pastors Ken and Lois Gott feel the Lord is allowing them to model the new emphasis ‑ prayer, mercy and mission to the unchurched ‑ just as they modelled the renewal.

After more than 19 months of nightly revival meetings with visitors flocking from around the country and the globe, SCC began gearing meetings to accommodate a new kind of guest.  The building which saw nightly renewal meetings is now used twelve hours a day, seven days a week, as people stream in from the local community where previously there had been little impact.

‘We built an eight‑foot fence to keep the violent street kids out,’ said Ken Gott, ‘but six months into the renewal God saved key people from the local community.  Jim Richardson was a major player in the local criminal underworld but God ‘arrested’ him in a renewal meeting ‑ literally knocking him flat on his back!  Now he’s on staff.’

Going for the Worst

‘Elaine Arkley, dramatically healed and saved during the renewal, is now running a drop‑in mission.  The workers cannot keep up with the numbers flocking to find food and, more importantly, the Saviour,’ adds Ken.

Around 260 people are being accommodated at SCC in this manner, but this is not church as they have known it before.  Those coming are being fed, helped and cared for by a church fired by a vision of mission and mercy.

Of course, the church is having to adapt, but, like General Booth of the Salvation Army, they are going for the worst of sinners.  And some truly remarkable conversions are taking place.

This change of direction is in line with many prophecies given before and during the current move which predicted a wave of renewal giving way to a compassionate ministry of love, healing and salvation to the desperate and needy.

Visitors to the church are no longer guaranteed to find renewal meetings every night of the week but those still travelling from all over the world are seeing first hand a model of renewal moving on into the harvest.

Denominational Reconciliations

Extraordinary scenes of reconciliation took place in SCC during a recent meeting led by Lois Gott and attended by hundreds of church leaders.

Anglicans, Baptists, Methodists, Salvationists, Messianic Jews, Congregationalists, House Church, Brethren and Pentecostals prayed for each other and confessed their past arrogance and lack of love for one another.

An Anglican vicar, tears flowing, led a prayer for national revival and announced prophetically that ‘the civil war (among Christians) is over.’

Pentecostals, particularly, repented of their arrogance in believing they ‘had it all’ and acknowledged the debt they owed to other denominations, especially the Anglicans ‑ it was Church of England vicar Alexander Boddy who was used to spark off the 20th century Pentecostal revival in Sunderland in 1907!

More Reconciliations

Also, at the recent 1,000 delegates prophetic conference other reconciliations took place in an atmosphere charged with an awesome sense of God’s presence.

A large group of Germans were called up to the front to be prayed for and Lois Gott, on behalf of the English, asked their forgiveness for the bloodshed of World War II.  Amid many tears and embraces, they in turn confessed the sins of their forefathers.  A Messianic Jewess who had had relatives killed in the holocaust also embraced them.  Christians from the north and south of Ireland also prayed for each other.

Amazing worship was accompanied by rich, anointed singing from the platform, and many were in tears as they sang inspirational new songs along with some wonderful old hymns exalting what Christ has done in the past and anticipating what he is about to do in revival power.

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Argentina Revival Fires: Hungry for the Spirit

When Argentina’s Claudio Freidzon stood before a crowd of over 65,000 in Buenos Aires’ Velez Sarsfield stadium it was like a dream come true.  As a boy he had dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player; being a pastor had been the furthest thing from his mind.  Now, walking onto the field for a gospel crusade, he had the wonderful opportunity of scoring a few goals against the devil!  Six hours of revivalist fervour would see many salvations and Holy Spirit miracles, healings and manifestations.

Claudio Freidzon is among the foremost figures of the extraordinary revival that has been taking place in Argentina since 1992.  He has also been a catalyst for the current worldwide revival ‑ as the saying goes, ‘Before there was Toronto or Sunderland, there was Argentina.’  More than 850,000 people have attended his crusades.  As well as many healings from a whole range of sicknesses, countless lives have been dramatically changed ‑ restoration of families has been a highlight in this revival, children pray for one another, and youngsters prefer to visit hospitals rather than play ball.

Almost giving up

But success did not come easily for Claudio.  When he and his wife, Betty, commenced ministry they set up both church and home in the one usable room in a dilapidated building.  At night they replaced the chairs with their bed and a cot for the children.  Those trying days proved a desert experience for Claudio which led him to a spiritual hunger and discovering complete dependence on the Holy Spirit.  He says, ‘The only fountain is God himself.  The only solution comes from heaven.’

With a congregation of just seven for seven years, he was on the point of giving up.  But God wouldn’t let him.  He recalls:

‘Sometimes pastor friends came to visit and would find me alone in the meeting.  I felt like dying: I wished I could disappear.  I used to walk among the empty benches and the devil laughed and jumped around me, whispering in my ear: “You’re no good; you’ll never make any progress; it will always be like this.”

‘And unfortunately I believed him.  One day I thought: “This isn’t for me.  I’m going to give up the pastorate.  I’m going to resume my engineering studies and get myself a job.”  But deep down I knew that was not God’s plan.

‘I went and saw my superintendent for the purpose of handing in my credentials.  But before I could tell him, he said, “Claudio, I have something to say to you.  God has something to say to you.  He has something wonderful for you.  You don’t see it, but God is going to use you greatly.”

‘He went on: “Look, I started in a very precarious house and had no help from anybody.  Sometimes I had nothing to eat and I suffered greatly.  But we prayed and God provided for each day and we felt grateful.  I knew we were doing God’s will.  And when I think of you, Claudio, I know you are going to be useful to God and that you are within his will.  I don’t know what your problems are, but keep on.  By the way, what brings you here today?”

‘I put my credentials back in my pocket and said, “Well… , nothing in particular, I thought I would just come and share a moment with you.”  There was nothing else I could say.  When I got home Betty was weeping and I said, “Betty, we’re going to continue.”  I embraced her tightly and we started all over again.’

Craving for the Touch of God

A new book, Holy Spirit, I am Hungry for You, tells how Claudio Freidzon went on to hunger from the depths of his soul for the touch of God that would enable him to reach the masses.  Desperate, and churning and aching inside as with hunger for natural food, Claudio desired and craved for the bread of life.  He was to discover that heart attitude is of primary interest to God and that through developing our relationship with him, the Holy Spirit is free to inspire any committed Spirit‑hungry Christian to do great exploits in Jesus’ name.

In his search for more of God, Claudio Freidzon visited Orlando and requested that Benny Hinn pray for him.  The evangelist did so, praying that the anointing of the Holy Spirit would rest on the Argentinian’s life and ministry and that God would do a great work through him in that nation.

The rest is history!  Claudio Freidzon began holding incredible rallies, presenting the message of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and revival swept the country.  What began as a personal work of the Holy Spirit in his own life because of his spiritual hunger affected others.  Today he pastors a prosperous church of over 4,000 members and is bringing spiritual life to hundreds of thousands both in Argentina and in other nations.

Claudio Freidzon sees the Argentine revival as a sovereign move of God who provided the river to be followed.  Traditional style worship forms were changed dramatically and today there’s a great emphasis on joy and freedom in the Spirit.  Evidently people come dancing down the street on their way to church.  Another emphasis is on holiness and less gossip in Christians’ lives!

AOG Superintendent Testifies

Argentina’s AOG superintendent, Jose Manuel Carlos, recalls a visit he made to Claudio Freidzon’s church:

‘My wife Isabel and I wanted to see for ourselves what was taking place, for we had heard so many things about the King of Kings Church.

We left our car not far from the church.  As we started walking towards the building, we noticed our legs trembling.  We thought it was just suggestion due to the comments we had heard.  When we entered, the place was packed and there were still people waiting outside.

‘An usher recognised us and took us to the front row.  People were standing, singing, jumping and hugging each other in unity.  When Pastor Freidzon asked, “Do you want to receive more?” a “Yes” broke out from the people like the sound of many waters.  Immediately he shouted, “Receive!” and half the congregation fell to the ground laughing, some of them with an expression of drunkenness.

‘He then called to the platform some 50 children and asked, “Do you want to receive from God?” When they said “Yes,” he prayed with lifted hands and all of them fell to the floor as if asleep and with smiles on their faces!

‘I could not find a logical explanation for what was happening and prayed to God: “Lord, if this is of you, please let me know.”  At that moment Claudio had begun to walk among the people and pray for them.  When I opened my eyes, I saw my wife was falling to the floor as he laid hands on her.

‘He then embraced me and prayed: “Father, bless this servant of yours.”  At that moment, something covered me from head to toe.  I had a pleasant feeling of dizziness and felt flooded by a deep joy.  I couldn’t shake it off; I don’t think I wanted to either!  What I was experiencing was so precious that I didn’t want to move, lest I should lose it.  Isabel and I had such a great feeling of joy that night we couldn’t sleep.  I prayed in tongues until dawn.

‘My ministry has been blessed by this anointing of the Holy Spirit that flows through Claudio’s ministry.  My own church increased from 400 members to 800 in only six  months.  My children were changed.  My two daughters, aged 15 and 17, were baptised in the Holy Spirit and called to the ministry.  The elder sister has started her studies at the Bible institute and the younger, who is finishing school, is also planning to train for the ministry.

‘This change began to happen one night as Pastor Freidzon prayed for them.  My eight‑year‑old son, who is very fond of playing soccer, has stopped playing and is praying and seeking after God as never before.

‘I thank God for this precious ministry that changes lives, ministers  and churches and, I dare say, will affect our country.’

Holy Spirit, I am Hungry for You (Kingsway, 1996), is encouraging, challenging reading, especially for those wanting to serve God in a powerful way.

(Adapted with permission from a Joy article.  Additional material from Alpha)

© Australian Evangel, August 1996, pp. 29-31, September 1996, pp. 6-8, 18-19.  Used by permission.

© Renewal Journal 9: Mission, 1997, 2nd edition 2011
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright included.

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 _______________________________

 30 years in unknown places

                                               where churches are established now

                                             _______________________________

We thank God for his faithfulness in our mission work and the many signs and wonders admit much persecution and danger.  It is difficult to write about them all because it is a story of 30 years in unknown places where churches are established now.

One village did not have drinking water, only salt water.  We prayed for pure water and the Lord provided pure water.  The whole village came to Christ.

The chief in another village became blind for there years.  His eyes were opened through our laying on hands and praying.  The village came to Christ.

Another village suffered from constant attacks of a tiger from the nearby forest.  No police or gun men could spot it to shoot it as it came at unexpected times around midnight.  Some of our team members preached the gospel in that village and went around the village seven times and claimed the protection of the village by the circle of the blood of Christ.  Since then for over eight years the tiger has never returned.  Before that, every week someone used to be attacked and killed.  No more now.

At another place a witch doctor had cursed a man and his animals because of enmity.  The man’s seven milking buffaloes stopped giving milk.  Our workers rebuked the curse in the name of Jesus.  Suddenly the buffaloes started giving milk.  Half of the villagers came to know Christ through that.

A large gathering came to hear the gospel in another village.  A militant Hindu group organised a riot against it and tried to stop the meeting.  Our people started praying together in the spirit.  Suddenly thunder and lightning came.  The leader of the gang which attacked us became totally blinded.   That stopped the riot and the meetings continued for five days.  On the fifth day the leader of the riot who was blinded came forward for healing.  Jesus healed him and he accepted Christ and was baptised as a believer in Christ.

In one place during the monsoon season the Lord stopped the rain for three days just in the area of our tent and surrounding places. People were amazed at this.  This was at a time when all other places were flooding with rain.  Even buildings were washed away.  Our tent meetings went on at the top of a mountain.  Many were healed, delivered from demons, and touched by the Holy Spirit.  Hundreds were convicted of their sins and accepted Christ.

In central India a whole tribe came to Christ through our work by the simple open door the Lord gave through a ministry of deliverance.  The daughter of the tribal chief became insane through demon possession.  The Lord used our mission team to deliver her from that. The chief and the tribe accepted Christ as their only Lord.

A fire broke out in a village where about 10,000 people lived in small huts almost wall to wall with thatched rooves and mud walls.  We established a church with ten believers in that village.  There was no fire engine or help available for the villagers.  Smoke filled the whole air.  The people could not see anything anywhere except thick smoke.  Our pastor and our believers called the whole village to stand around the village to call upon God in the name of Jesus to stop the fire.  Thousands prayed.  Our pastor kept shouting through the microphone to keep calling upon the name of Jesus.  The fire started in the morning about 8.30 am.  The smoke filled the village till five that evening.  All that time people were calling upon Jesus.  Then the pastor declared that the Lord would clear the smoke and that no lives would be lost.  The smoke went away.  The villagers found only two huts burnt where the fire started.  The other houses were not destroyed.  No one was hurt.   The village accepted Christ.

During a pneumonic plague the whole nation was in panic.  The plague started in Surat where we had a ministry for 20 years.  The people ran out of the town in thousands.  Many prominent leaders of several villages came to our church and asked our people to pray as they heard about the power of Jesus from us.  The believers fasted and prayed.  The plague was stopped completely in that town.  God’s people have prayed in thousands, and we continued to pray for the protection of the land from the plague.

These are a few of the things I have remembered.  We never kept a record of these events.  Only the Lord keeps track of these things.  The Lord continues to do many thing for his glory.  Indian Inland Mission workers all over north India see many things like that.  They work with native people who are very simple in their faith in the living God.

‘If you believe you will see the glory of God’ (John 11:40).

1000 orphans in Bethel Home and 500 students in

Grace College at Indian Inland Mission

Note:

Paul stayed with us in Brisbane and spoke at the Renewal Fellowship. He has taken teams to hundreds of villages and towns, starting churches. One time their tent was burned down by fantasists who tried to kill them. Paul’s arm was broken but then angels (appearing as fine young men) miraculously moved the team to a safe place and told them that the Lord would send them back there. He did. They started a home church there and it grew.

A small team from the Renewal Fellowship in Brisbane visited and spoke at Grace College in New Delhi on our way from mission with Raju Sundas in Nepal to Philip and Dhamika George’s family pastoring in Sri Lanka.

© Renewal Journal 9: Mission, 1997, 2nd edition 2011
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright included.

The Life of Jesus in Hindi, Indian Punjabi, Urdu, Sindhi, & Pakistani Punjabi.

The Story of Jesus: History’s Great Love Story – Blog in English
The Life of Jesus in English and Hindi – Blog
The Life of Jesus in Hindi & English Headings – PDF
The Life of Jesus in Indian Punjabi – Blog
The Life Of Jesus in Indian Punjabi & English Headings – PDF
The Life of Jesus in English and Urdu – Blog
The Life of Jesus in Urdu & English Headings – PDF
The Life of Jesus in English & Sindhi – Blog
The Life of Jesus  in Sindhi & English Headings – PDF
The Life of Jesus in Pakistani Punjabi – Blog
The Life of Jesus in Pakistani Punjabi & English Headings– PDF

  https://books.by/rene

Contents of all Renewal Journals

Contents: 9 Mission

The River of God, by David Hogan

The New Song, by C. Peter Wagner

God’s Visitation, by Dick Eastman

Revival in China, by Dennis Balcombe

Mission in India, by Paul Pilai

Harvest Now, by Robert McQuillan

Pensacola Revival, by Michael Brown

Reviews: Building a Better World  by Dave Andrews,  Surprised by the Power of the Spirit & Surprised by the Voice of God both by Jack Deere, Secrets of the Argentine Revival, by R Edward Miller

Renewal Journal 9: Mission – PDF

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1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6  Worship,   7  Blessing,   8  Awakening,   9  Mission,   10  Evangelism,
11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

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