Clearly there does not need to be another internet post arguing whether or not Lakeland is of God.  But there are still lessons to be learned.  And no, the lessons are not just for them who don’t agree with us.  They are for us as well.  Because no matter how strongly you agree with your camps position about Lakeland, there is probably a little truth to what they are saying.

I support Lakeland. I believe God is in it.  But that does not mean that everything that is proclaimed from the pulpit is rhema word.  There have been a number of predictions that were flatly wrong.  Those of us in prophetic ministry know that people miss it.  Mature prophets will admit that there was some sort of error and try to seek how they got it wrong, or at least use it as a teaching point to show that no one person has cornered the market in hearing from God.

Prophetic words are to be tested and tried.  I sat with a friend the other day who told me that he was dragged in front of a whole conference and given a word to come back to Jesus.  The problem with that was that he had basically just given up every assurance in life to follow the call of God on His life.  As soon as he told me the story I could see what the prophet saw.  Only he interpreted it wrong.  My friend was on unstable ground but not because he was away from God.  He needed to know that God sees that his ground was unstable and was still with him.  I doubt that man recognized his error.  Because we don’t demand that of prophets anymore.

In truth, there is a fair amount of goofiness happening in Lakeland.  From decrees and mantles to predictions and prophesies that are really not more than words.  I know some are scared to recognize this for fear it will give “them” ammo, but I always tell my disciples that in a time of turmoil stand and speak the truth and let the chips fall where they may.  Jesus is alive.

Likewise, those who characterize Lakeland as a work of demons use a sort of biblical hopscotch that is disingenuous at best and are more properly categorized as intellectual dishonesty.  I have heard the opponents quote everything but the scripture that dictates testing these things.

1 John 4:1-3 Listen

4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

I have heard Todd proclaim that Jesus has come in the flesh, died, rose again, ascended and one day will return.  Biblically that settles it, right?  If you don’t think that it does then you my friend are what we call a biblical liberal.  You don’t believe that the bible means what is says.  It’s ok.  I understand.  But don’t be surprised when homosexuals get married in your church because that is where you are headed.

The fact is that people are being healed and giving glory to God.  You would have to completely reject logic, testimony, and the Word to believe that Satan is doing it.  Yet many opponents would contend that satan is the healer.  What happened to rejoice with those that rejoice Rom 12:15?  Or in everything give thanks 1 Thes 5:18?  Or if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things Ph 4:8?  What about sola scriptura?  Is that for only when it suits you?  I have been amazed at how many cessationists have been claiming the gift of discerning of spirits lately.

It is possible to have doctrinal error and not be the spawn of satan.  And just because your vision of revival does not match Todd’s does not mean that Todd is necromancing the demon of a past fallen minister.  It is hard to believe the vitriol that has come from Christians against other Christians.  Is it possible that this is the sign of error?

The fact of the matter is that since the earliest recorded history, when God does something, it stirs up all kinds of dust and that usually clouds people’s vision.  Wherever you stand on Lakeland, don’t miss what God is doing.  He is probably uncovering more than what you see at first light.

If you are the pastor or part of the teaching staff of a Spirit-filled church that is turning the lost into committed Christians could I talk to you?

I got a few questions.

I would like to chat by phone but can swap emails.

pastor@themissiondelray.com

I am a couple months into planting a ministry.  We have not had our formal launch yet because we have failed to secure a permanant location.  However, this has been a great opportunity for me and my little band of wandering revivalists.  Unlike other fast start, jump the gun, have money will preach, national blog ministry - non-existant local ministry planters, I have the opportunity to find my groove.  I read all the big name church plant books.  I got spammed by their email newsletters offering me their latest products that will fulfill all my church plant fantacies for the low low price.  And all it did was cause me to veer from the call.

I tried their system.  I found myself being the rah rah cheerleader.  I might have even used the term “stinkin” or “jacked” for effect.  All it did was dry me up.  I looked into the crowd and saw people starving for answers to the issues of life.  I reached back into the church plant playbook and all I found was hype and promises.  Promises that if people hung out at the new cool church their life would change.

Note to church planters - Church does not save.  Jesus saves.  Messages on financial freedon, how to have better sex, patriatism, and everthing else that passes for a message these days is a diversion.  You are not called to be the church’s version of a carnival barker. You have a calling that has no equal outside the Church.  You have been intrusted with the Gospel.  And that alone has the power to save.  The world has nothing that comes close to that.

Since I had been part of a failed church plant in the past I thought this was the way to success.  I was wrong.  All I was achieving was misery and confusion.  I began to hate preaching.  I would rack my brain to come up with a message.  There was no prophetic flow.  People were coming but I was not seeing lives changed.  I was trying to be the pastor I thought I was supposed to be.

Then I gave up.  God spoke a clear word to me about my call to revival ( I will write more on that next week hopefully).  I got rid of my nonfitting pastor armor and walked in the armor God had given me and the fruit began to follow.

I will never be on a podcast with Perry Noble or Mark Batterson.  Rick Warren will not be writing a forward to my books.  But I am happy doing what I am called to do.  I preach the Gospel of the present Kingdom of God.  I preach Chirst in you the hope of Glory.  I preach greater works than these.  I preach repent and be baptized and you will receive the Holy Ghost.  I call down fire and I challenge people to preach to their area of influence.  In return, I see people radically saved, baptized, and baptized in the Holy Ghost.  For me, there is nothing better.

That’s what I do.  And I am doing it.  And I am happy.

What do you do?  If you don’t know, find out.  Then do what you do.

Lost on all the vehement critics of Lakeland are the greater lessons the move has for the church, like the fact that people will travel half-way around the world to go to a meeting where they say they still believe the Bible.  I have been to a handful of Lakeland meetings.  And in all honesty, some were not that amazing.  In spite of that, I still go back.  Why?  Because there is the possibility that it could be the greatest meeting I have ever been to.

I have been to pretty good meetings in the past.  I have held pretty good meetings.  I have preached where the anointing was so thick people began to wail in their chairs.  I have preached in meetings where prophecy just broke out and half the people there received visions of the risen Jesus.  I see people get saved and filled with the Holy Ghost as a normal thing.

In this age where being an unbelieving believer is the norm, it is really nice to be in a room where 5-10 thousand people are gathering with the understanding that the miracles of the bible did not end when they made a cover for the book. And there are lots of these folks out there.  While all the non-fruit producing preachers teach their way through fables, scores of people are desperate to obey their Savior’s instructions to heal the sick.  They have this nagging hunger deep inside to believe that just like men in the Bible, we too as children of God can lead a supernatural lifestyle.

There are lots of preachers who are hell bent on teaching that God does not intervene in the lives of humans and that he does not use people for anything more than as pastors and teachers (or gifts that help pastors and teachers).  This doctrine of demons teaches that when the Apostles were martyred, the enemy won and was able to end the gifts of God in the church.  They seek to smear the reputation of any minister who would be bold enough to contend for the truth of the Scripture.

For better or for worse, in Lakeland, there is a man who is not concerned about his reputation.  And there is this other thing that happens, God moves.  I wonder how many people would attend these meetings if there were more ministers who believed the supernatural things of the Bible for today and did not care what people thought about it?

As you probably know, Indonesia is the larges Muslim nation in the world.  So I was excited to hear of my friend David Copeland is having fruitful ministry in the land so desperate for the Gospel.  Here is the note he sent me this morning.

Dear Intercessors,

Hope all is well on the other side of the world!

The ministry in Indonesia has been tremendous! Thanks to you all for praying for us! We are exactly 12 hours ahead of you on the Eastern Time Zone…so as I write this it is 10:16am on Monday morning. Talk about confused….

We leave this afternoon for West Timor. We were scheduled to have a service tonight, but now the flight is delayed so that may be in limbo.
We travel on Tuesday to a village in the interior named Soe where we will conduct some seminars and services Tuesday-Thursday then travel back again to Ku Pang on Friday. I figure we will end up in a service on Friday night somewhere.

Many have responded to the altar calls for salvation; and many have been ministered to one on one by the team. The personal ministry some of the people have received has been more powerful that the meetings; and the meetings have been powerful! That’s just like God to take a four people half way around the world, just to minister personally to one of His precious children! We just know it’s a real God thing we are here for this season!

Thank you for your prayers and intercession! It’s working and many souls have been credited to your account in heaven!

Blessings,
David

I was going to title this post, “Revival is a White Thing” for dramatic effect but I don’t believe that so I opted out.

I went to Toronto, I have been to Lakeland, and I saw countless Brownsville services on tv.  I have been to Todd Bentley meetings, Patricia King, Reinhart Bonnke, Benny Hinn, Rodney Howard-Browne, Randy Clark, Jack Frost, Heidi Baker and a whole bunch of other folks and it was basically the same.  They are all white events.  Is revival a white phenomenon?

I know, you have a buddy on your worship team who is black or you have a latino family in your prayer team but that is not what I am talking about.  There are and were some people of color at these events.  But that is the exception. The fact remains that Pentecost was born in multiculturalism but by and large that is gone.

This is not a quota thing.  It’s a Kingdom thing.  I look at the folks sitting on the stage in Lakeland and pray that a shift will happen. But this goes both ways.

The Church of God in Christ is the largest Pentecostal denomination in America.  It is also an almost exclusively black denomination.  Are they producing no revivalists that can cross racial and denominational lines?  Are there no fire baptized COGIC ministers who want to see their churches better reflect the Kingdom?  Are there no prophets in the COGIC that want to bring their distinctives outside their denomination?

Or does this come down to musical tastes?  When I became a Christian I had a hard time finding music that is both anointed and sounds good.  I would be fine never hearing another guitar solo, acoustic guitar, or seeing tight pants or hair in the face.  I am also not really trying to hear anything with an organ and a drum slapping BAM boom BAM boom BAM boom BAM boom while the bass player plays a run.  That’s not really music to me.  Unfortunately for me, I found that if I want the anointing I have to watch worship leaders fulfill their childhood ambitions of being rock stars.

My city, Delray Beach integrated its little league teams for the first time this year.  That’s right.  2008 is the first year the black and white little leagues were not segregated.  I believe this is a prophetic sign that things are going to change in my town starting with my fellowship The Mission.  I hope this is a sign of larger things to come.

Is what is happening in Lakeland a revival? There seems to be one clear way to answer that question.  If Lakeland is producing what you want for your ministry, then it is revival.  If it is not producing the fruit you want in your ministry then it is something else.  How far Lakeland diverges from your vision determines how far it deviates from biblical Christianity.

It is that simple.

Lakeland has really polarized the Church, at least the “Spirit-Filled” branch of it.

Some believe that revival brings sinners to repentance on a city wide scale.  Others think that revival should reawaken the dead church and bring the reality of the Return to the forefront.  Others think that revival is any time that the manifest presence of God is poured out on a congregation over an extended period.

In that last definition Lakeland is certainly a revival.  Under the classic awakening type definition it clearly is not.  But why are people debating an extra biblical term?  Are ministers vying for maintaining the purity of the “Revival” tag?  Most would agree that revival is the pinnacle of Pentecostalism.  But many make the mistake that those who experience it in their ministries have reached ministerial nirvana.

So many want to say that this is not revival because in their hierarchical mindset that would make Todd “above” them and thus their ministry and gifts on a lower level.  It might even mean that they have been contending in the wrong direction for years.  Most cannot fathom either one so instead of re-evaluating their corporate mindsets, they attack the move.

Correction: There is an album that was recorded right before the Florida Outpouring.

I have gone to the meetings in Lakeland four different times now and I have seen it at different phases.  I have no desire to debate the legitimacy of what is happening, nor do I wish to rank it against anything else.

Through communicating with people ranging from the highly educated to those who want to know nothing more than what their spirit is telling them, I feel I have picked up a few things that we can learn from this event.

As with almost all posts on this site, this will be made with a Spirit-filled perspective toward those with the same theological bent.

Had another little baptism at The Mission last week Good news is we are having another this coming Saturday. I will give more details about that later.

We do baptisms a little different at The Mission. See, we believe that water baptism is a means of grace in the Church. That means if someone gets baptized in faith, and the person baptizing them is doing it in faith, something should happen. Don’t tell me it’s just a symbol. To mush of what the Church has been doing is mere motion and not enough faith.

So when we baptize we are in the pool till the Holy Ghost comes and we minister till He shows up to baptize. With that in mind: