Really do appreciate the kind words and encouragement.

Michael

The fruit of both of these in my life is nothing but good. I have grown in intimacy with Jesus as a result.

I just recently was at a conference with John & Carol Arnott. The love of the Father is such a powerful thing with them. I watched Carol pray for a guy who had severe back pain and God healed him. I talked to him several times throughout the week and it wasn’t in his head. The pain left and stayed gone.

I have my own opinion of the doctrine police and have posted about them in my own blog in regards to the current controversy around Patricia King.

http://rahabsplace.wordpress.com/2007/08/02/patricia-king-and-extreme-prophetic/

The one point I make in that post that people really need to consider is that whatever your Christian background is, at one time your group was persecuted by other Christians as being heretics. Read church history. So before people take up their sticks and pitchforks, they need to consider the fact that at one time others did that to their group.

If I could find a copy of Petra’s song Witch Hunt, I’d probably put it up on my blog.

http://www.revivalblog.com/2007/07/18/the-toronto-outpouring-my-experience/

I had a personal experience with Toronto that I want to document but would be far too long for a comment but I will do it shortly with a trackback here. But I have seen what you point out in your last comment.

When I knew a bunch of Vineyard people, Toronto was seen as a move of God’s love and Brownsville was somewhere between money making venture and side show attraction.

When I got in the AG, all of a sudden both moves of God changed. Brownsville was a genuine move of God lead by mature shepherds and Toronto was the home of barking dogs.

I have taken more than a little joy in pointing out to my friends Brownsville’s roots in Toronto (Steve Hill’s testimony of receiving the anointing at a HTB meeting which came from the Toronto move, Kilpatrick’s wife going to Toronto just before Hill came, Lindell Cooley went there just before coming on staff).

Either way, both were moves of God. I know lots of people who were touched by each. And there are other moves that impacted almost as many people.

It has been my hunch lately that those who actually experienced these moves had positive views by-in-large while those who didn’t, seem to be persuaded by all the negative accounts.

I experienced the Toronto move at the beginning before a lot of the excesses and negatives which seem to typify most current discussions. I am part of the Vineyard so knew or knew of most of the leaders involved.

I did not experience the Brownsville move nor do I know anyone who was touched by it. Because of that, I have always had questions about that move and have been somewhat persuaded by all the critical comments.

I have come to the conclusion recently that both were true moves of God that the enemy eventually sowed a bunch of garbage in and as Kathisharpe has said: “flesh began to manufacture things” trying to keep it going.

An evangelist by the name of Holly Noe (http://fanningtheflame.org) attended some of the Brownsville services and God birthed revival in her, in a big way. She credits those services as His avenue.

She preached some services at our church, last fall and this spring, and I was definitely touched by her ministry – the fruit is definite, tangible, and still growing and spreading from the revival at Brownsville.

I, like SLW, have concerns about Toronto… but like SLW I wasn’t there. Haven’t met anyone who was there. Can’t first-hand say much.

I have noticed that with both revivals, the critics I’ve read tend to focus on (what they deem) excesses that occurred toward the end of things… leaving me to wonder if that particular move of God ended in that particular location (resulting dispersal of “revived” people bringing great impact, and the people there didn’t catch God’s timing and flesh began to manufacture things.

PURELY speculation. Would be interested in what others think about that possibility, though.

Brownsville, on the other hand, I see in a much more positive light. I was at the church during revival services, I personally know many folk that were there too, and the fruit that has followed seems better to me (I am A/G, perhaps I’m prejudiced). I posted (http://thundersounds.blogspot.com/2007/04/radical-invitation.html) about some of my reactions to Brownsville.

Like all historic revivals, both have faded with the passage of time. What would you say has been the lasting impact of either?