The old site layout

As I do from time to time I redesigned the Revival Blog.  There were several reasons and i think I am about done with the mods.  This post will only appeal to the nerdiest of the revival folks but that is the way it goes.

1. My old theme was based on the famous K2 theme.  It is good but it had a tendency to lose the second sidebar when opened in a screen to narrow.  That irked me to no end.  I wanted one I had a little more control over the layout.
2. I wanted my blog to look more like my ministry site The Mission.  There was none that did so I needed to mod one that could come close.  This current theme is based loosely on the QuickPress theme.  After extensive mods I may call this an official fork in the theme.
3. I added page tabs to the top.  I will freely admit that this current code is based on my modded k2 code.
4. Added a large rotating image box on the right side.  The original box there was set for an advertisement.  Religious blogs don’t make any money.  And I like pictures.
5. I used a plugin to only show post excerpts of everything after the first post. I was trying to clean up the front page.  This helps with seo as well.
6. Added threaded comments.  I have wanted to do this for a long time.
7. Re-activated my servers ability to mail you when people comment on a post you commented on.
8. Added related posts plugin.
9. Cleaned up the colors.  I like sove variation of a deep red in blogs but they don’t read well.
10. Made a default gravatar icon.
11. Colored admin comments and added it to threaded comments. (I am not done stylizing comments.)
12. Added an archive page.  The jury is out on this one.
13. Dumped popularity contest.  Not the greatest plugin.

There was more but that is all that comes to mind right away.  If you find any issues please let me know.

By the way, I am experiencing an outpouring in my house as I type this.  I don’t exactly know why but I am being overwhelmed by the presence of God.  I need to take my family to dinner but I just want to lay down and enjoy the presence of the Lord.

• These recaps are not all that fun to write.  Not sure I will keep them up.  Maybe another missionary will begin to recap.  who know.
• I decided that I was not going to have another service without the Presence of God.
• The anointing was so thick the sound guy could hardly stand through worship
• Khamille let it rip singing Always
• Preached the first message in out SuperNatural series
• This is not an academic series.  We are contending for the supernatural.
• Pics are here. No pics of the altar time.  The photographer was laid out.
• Next week spiritual warfare.  We are gonna engage in some!
• Had troubles with the audio, we are trying to rip it from the video.
• God has been echoing Psalm 104:4 in my head “he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.”

Just a quick note.  I have had email issues for quite some time.  If you sent me a note through the contact form, I did not get it (except the person who called me a coward.  I got yours.).

If you need to contact me I am now reachable.  Or you can just get me at revivalblog@gmail.com

Is it possible that this

Pastor Wiley Drake, former 2nd Vice President of The Southern Baptist Convention, Asks Prayer Warriors to Pray for ‘Rain’ Aug. 28th on Invesco Field and the Democrats link

and this

GOP considers delaying convention

Tropical Storm Gustav is forecast to hit U.S. next week as hurricane  link

could be related?

Our memory verse for the day. Luke 6:27-28

But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

Lets throw in a little Matthew 7:2 for good measure:

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

If you do portable church you know the joy of setup.  Some are more intricate than others.  I was inspired by my friend Nathan to post ours. We only used this space once and only set up a fraction of what we have now.

I have followed it with a bunch of others.  If I leave your church’s out let me know.

I have been meditating on this whole Todd Bentley fiasco and I got a supernatural faith for Todd’s restoration.  Granted, this is all contingent on the biblical requirements for any believer after transgression.   But I began to search for why I was getting this and here is some of what I came up with in no particular order:

1. Todd preached grace and restoration. I can’t count how many messages I have heard Todd preach on marriages being restored,  calls being restored, gifts being restored, relationships being restored, and yes, ministries being restored.  I believe that this lack of judgment in his ministry and a proclamation of the restorative nature of the cross is a massive seed that will bring a harvest for Todd. In other words, he will be judged with the same measure he has judged others.  In the 90s, there was a prominent minister who fell.  Another minister preached great words of judgment and fell to the same thing in no time at all.  If our words are seed, then Todd should be reaping much mercy from the Father in this hour.
2. The Body needs him. I have followed Todd for years.  There were messages that made me scratch my head and wonder what Bible he was reading out of.  There were messages that I knew were from the “conference file.”  But we didn’t really listen to Todd for teaching.  We listened to him to stir our faith.Paul said he was ordained an Apostle and a preacher.  The Body is sorely lacking preachers whose faith is backed with biblical signs.  Todd operated in such faith it almost offended your sensibilities.  “Did he really tell slum dwellers in Africa that they could stone him if he did not heal their sick?”  “Did he really just say that he is contending for a restoration of the 50s healing revivals?”  “Did he really just call all the deaf people  on stage and ask them if they could hear any better after he prayed for them?”  He made your little faith steps look minuscule.  Some could not grasp the stumbling block that he was.  Others were emboldened by his ministry.  Who do we look to now?  Who is contending?
3. God likes to show off His Grace. God is sovereign.  But He does not display His sovereignty by damning those who have been unrighteous.  Instead He displays His sovereignty by forgiving those who deserve damnation.
4. Todd Bentley is Called. Romans 11:29
5. Todd is a Christian. Some seem to forget the fact that Todd Bentley is a child of God.  By condemning him you are condemning yourself.  Matthew 7:2
6. God is love. The calls of “crucify!” were wicked then and they are wicked now.

Please understand my comment policy before you get yourself worked up.

• Looks like we finally broke through the warfare.  Service just flowed last night.
• We set up in record time.  It was almost weird, folks were looking around and asking, “What next?”  I gotta get more stuff for service!
• Worship so really free.  I even had serge the second song again at the end of the worship set.
• Finished up our “Christian Living” series.
• Next up: supernatural - We are gonna do it hood pentecostal style
• Sergio’s 21 birthday last night.  The world would have been gettin drunk.  He was ushering in the presence of God.
• Had a cool birthday party for him after service
• We have returning guests!  People who got saved and baptized actually started coming back!
• Message was ok.  God was tryin to talk to someone so I had to almost abandon my message.  I hate/love that
• Two words for ministry time: Sweet Deliverance
• Gotta ramp up sinage.
• The Mission pictures here in the next couple minutes

We have a bunch of young adults at The Mission.  Some are unchurched and others have only had youth group theology.  For the unlearned youth group theology goes something like this:

Be Good.  When you are bad, God is sad.  The only way to be good is to answer an altar call three times a month to publically admit that you are not good.  If you don’t, you might make friends who are not saved which will result in your having sex with someone.  This will make God very sad.  Live in church, avoid the world, those unspiritual people are going to hell.

Or something to that effect. Once folks get to college and realize they did not go straight to hell the first time they drank a beer they cast off the faith of their youth </ rant>.

In any event, we wanted to go over what it means to live as a Christian.  We were going to do a bible study but I just decided to do a sermon series on it.  Sergio made me a theme song based on a lyric in one of Tha Fam’s songs “This is the way I live.”  I jacked some graphics and renamed them Christian Living.  I will add them in this post.  If you want to use any shoot me an email.

This was really revolutionary for some of our people.  They talked about recognizing our issues, getting to the root of the problems and taking them to Jesus so we can walk in victory.

Christian Living theme song (played when I took the platform)

it came from this song (which they will perform tonight)
This is the Way I Live

link to the bulliten 2-up

They do stuff like this.

For the record, I support Todd Bentley.  I support the move of God.  I support healing.  I support miracles.  I support prophecy.  I support the Bible and every ministry that it contains.

I also support testing fruit.  I support seeking the scriptures.  I support oversight.  I support testimony.  I support accountability.  I support all of these things.

I do not support demonizing things we don’t understand.  I don’t support demonizing people we do not agree with.  I do not support “the end justifies the means.”  I don’t support the ministry justifies the man.   I do not support slander.  I do not support gossip. (and i won’t approve comments that slander or gossip)

Since I have been a public supporter of Lakeland and Todd I feel I need to comment on the latest goings on.  Indeed there have been moral failings.  And this is a big deal.

At the end of the day, God used a man in sin.  He has done it before.  He will do it again.

I don’t judge Todd.  Not because I am looking past his faults, but because of Gal 6:1.  I am fearful of falling.  I mean, I really am fearful of falling and I have found pride and judgment the 1 - 2 knockout combination for that.

Kathryn Kuhlman was restored and Todd Bentley can be as well. I hope he is able to get to the root of the issues, get it dealt with and move forward.

But while Todd is looking at his issues, I hope that along the way, we charismatics can come to grips with the fact that we are willing to look past almost anything if we see the right manifestations.  I am not sure that Todd could not start his ministry back tomorrow without a lapse in his schedule as long as he comes and performs.  Many people would restore him without repentance.

And in a day when we think it is beneficial to “toke the Ghost” smoke “gloryjuanna” do shots of the new wine or inject the anointing in our arms, we need to “be sober minded” and see if this foolishness has any biblical basis.

There is an extreme lack of reverence for the third person of the trinity.  His first name is Holy for a reason.

After his last sabatical, Todd came back with an extreme humility in ministry.  It is my hope that all of Fresh Fire ministries comes back with a new sobriety.