Monthly Archives: June 2011

-Hope in the Hispanic Ministry at The Crystal Cathedral

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Michael| Leave a comment

The exteriors of Crystal Cathedral. Garden Gro...

(Image via Wikipedia)

Last Christmas Eve I attended along with several of my family one of the services at Crystal Cathedral and was shocked at the changes taking place there. The congregation had declined significantly and the choir was a quarter of the size it use to be plus none of the top name professional musicians were there like they usually are.

Our family has been going to Christmas Eve services at the cathedral for more than 20 years and it always is a wonderful holiday experience but not so much this last year.

Since then, the Crystal Cathedral has gone into bankruptcy and the buildings and property are being sold. Meanwhile the graying and depleted congregation that was a mega church for an entire generation in Southern California is left to leasing their own former buildings.

Now for the Good News

However in the midst of all of the trouble and depressing decline there is an unlikely move of God going on in the Hispanic Ministry at the church. The Spanish speaking services continue to grow at an exponential rate.

Since former Argentine Assemblies of God pastor Dante Gebel was put in charge of the Crystal Cathedral’s Hispanic ministry 2 years ago it has grown from 300 to 3,000 people, and is actually now larger than its parent English speaking congregation. Plus the services are far more Charismatic and Pentecostal and nothing like the traditional English services there.

Pastor Gebel expects his congregation to reach over 10,000 in the next year or so. It is a real blessing to see this kind of growth and this hidden move going on especially when all we hear about locally is all of the bad news when it comes to the Crystal Cathedral. *Top

Posted in Megachurch, Move of God

Tagged Crystal Cathedral

-Baptist Revival: Candies Creek Move

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Michael| 1 Comment

(by hickory hardscrabble via Flickr)

According to Jamie Work, pastor of Candies Creek Baptist Church in Charleston, Tenn.:

God turned an “11-day summit into a six-week revival” at Candies Creek, and the revival is continuing.
“As a result of corporate prayer and repentance, God is birthing us into a brand-new church.”

In his testimony before the SBC Executive Committee, Pastor Work told how Candies Creek spent weeks in prayer before the initial April 10-20 revival meetings at the church. As a result, the Holy Spirit birthed a move of God that resulted in over 25 hours of public confession of sin:

“We are still dealing with what God has been saying to us. Our world has been turned upside down.”

Also the church itself ended up confessing its corporate sin. The following were some of the sins covered:

prayerlessness; superficiality with God and one another; failure to practice biblical, redemptive church discipline; lukewarmness (a lack of commitment); preoccupation with mammon (money and stuff); and programmatic worship (non-Spirit led).

Though the revival meetings officially ended after six weeks, regular prayer meetings continue to be well attended by the members. Pastor Work says that as a result of the move:

Candies Creek will “push all ministries off the table and put prayer in the center. Then, we will rebuild our ministries around prayer.”

We need to take people deeper into their walk with the Lord in order to get them into a deeper relationship with each other.”

As a result of their experience, Pastor work put forth a resolution before the recent SBC conference in Phoenix,Arizona seeking revival across all of America beginning with prayer and repentance.

See the following resolution adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention:

Posted in American Church, Move of God, Prayer, Repentance, Revival

Tagged Revival, SBC

-Move of God in Hungary and Among the Gypsies

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Michael| Leave a comment

(Hungary via Wikipedia)

From all accounts, Europe is going the wrong direction when it comes to the ongoing world harvest –at least Western Europe.

However, Eastern Europe is becoming a different story. We have previously written about the current revival among the Gypsies or Roma. Now here’s a link to J.Lee Grady’s latest article:

“Growing Spiritual Hunger in Hungary”

Grady begins his article with this observation:

The passion for revival I saw in eastern Europe this week rivaled what I have seen in Africa or Asia.

Then he goes on to describe the current ongoing move of God among the Gypsies and Hungarians which he was able to observe during his visit. He winds up his article with this very encouraging assessment:

Blind eyes opening … in Europe? Three-hour worship sessions … in Europe? Churches filled with teenagers and young adults … in Europe? It’s all happening in Hungary, a nation that borders seven other European countries—and could affect them all. I’m not writing off this region. What I saw this week in Hungary was enough to convince me that a new spiritual trend has begun.

Well worth reading and guaranteed to bless everyone looking for revival. *Top

Posted in Europe, Harvest, Revival

Tagged Eastern Europe, Revival

-Israel: 500 New Jewish Believers Come to Christ

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Michael| Leave a comment

This is really incredible. With all of the problems and pressures that are facing Israel right now, God is sovereignly moving and bringing His grace.

Here’s a report from David Hathaway’s Ministry:

Over 700 people attended the 2-day conference. Most of them NON-believers and many of the guests at the conference were an older generation, holocaust survivors and many other Israelis. For most of them it was the first time they had ever heard the gospel of a Jewish Messiah preached to them. Their response was overwhelming!

On the first night more than 300 people responded to the altar call, came forward to receive Yeshua as their Messiah! The second night 200 people also gave their lives to Yeshua. It has exceeded all our expectations! We have never seen such a large number of people in Israel responding to the message of Yeshua….

It was genuinely a historic event; something that hasn’t been seen in Israel in the modern days. To see countless of people coming forward to receive prayer for healing and the testimonies kept pouring in from people who were amazed to discover they were healed.

Response: These really are exceptional times that we live in. More Jewish folks have come to Christ in the last 10 years than all of the last 2,000 years combined.

Please continue to pray for Jerusalem and Israel. The very existence of this people and nation could soon be threatened and this time round America may not be all that helpful. *Top

Posted in Israel, Move of God, Revival

Tagged Israel

-Double Dip Recession, Depression, and Israel?

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Michael| 1 Comment

Map of Israel, the Palestinian territories (We...

(Image via Wikipedia)

The news this week is full of gloomy economic reports for America. Major financial experts are fearful of an expanding ‘double-dip’ recession at a time when they were expecting and proclaiming recovery.

Worse yet, some are even whispering that we may ultimately end up in a major depression before it is all over.

This morning I read a report that China had divested itself of 97% of their U.S. treasury bills (trillions) in the last couple of months. It was their purchase of our debt up to now that has kept everything afloat and from going south. THIS IS REALLY SERIOUS!!

What does the future hold economically for America?

Three years ago when this recession started in America, several major prophetic folks gave words that this economic downturn could last far longer than anyone expects and depending upon how Americans respond, it could mean that things will never be the same again.

Although my own personal business has suffered considerably, I have maintained a hopeful outlook. However several events in the last month including the Chinese dumping our treasuries have caused me to now be rather concerned about our future.

From my perspective, it is no surprise that this recent turn for the worse follows President Obama’s announcement that Israel must give up Jerusalem and all of the holy lands and sites that it gained in the 1967 war.

It is my contention that if our present administration is allowed to continue down the road toward unwitting support of Arab Muslim anti-Semitic goals then America will surely continue in its decline.

Right now in Europe there is considerable pressure being placed upon the Euro governments to support a new Palestinian state whether Israel agrees or not. In the UN there are several bills sponsored by Middle Eastern countries that would make Israel an international pariah unless they revert to 1967 borders without any concessions from the so-called Palestinians or radical Arabs that continue to call for the utter destruction of Israel and the complete eradication of the Jews from ’Muslim lands’.

Worse yet, mainline Protestant Churches are being encouraged to allow imams to come and teach from the Quran in order to foster better relations between Christians and Muslims in America. However, also in the process Muslim organizations are asking to speak in the same churches in order to present their propaganda in favor of establishing a new Palestinian state that would include Jerusalem as its capitol.

Folks, we are living in interesting times and how American Christians respond to the challenges before us could very well determine whether the USA rises up once more or descends into the dust bowl of history.

I believe that how we handle Israel as a nation could be an important factor in determining our future. Here’s a great article by Jack Hayford listing all of the Biblical reasons why Christians should be supporting Israel and taking action right now: Why Stand With Israel Today?

Hayford starts out with this proclamation: