808,190 Recorded Decisions in Karu/Nigeria

Someone once posed the question to me; “What is greater…Evangelism or Worship?” They believed that worship was greater because through evangelism we minister to one another, but through worship we minister to God. As a former worship pastor I have thought about this a lot.

I have often said that the true depth of Christian’s spirituality is not determined by how enthusiastically they dance during the worship service or how loudly they sing. As much as I love modern music I must confess…pulsating rhythms, flashing lights and smoke machines are not worship (this applies to pipe organs, choirs and hymns as well). All of these things are but tools we use in an attempt to provoke worship. Unfortunately, often they are more of a distraction than anything and if you could escape their clatter for a moment and truly become intimate enough with God to draw near and lay your head on his chest and hear his heartbeat, this is what it would sound like: SAL-VA-TION, SAL-VA-TION, SAL-VA-TION. God loves the world SO MUCH that He gave His only begotten Son. Could there be a more ardent exclamation of God’s deepest desire?…..(Continued)

I’ve just arrived in Singapore and very jet-lagged, but I thought I would quickly post this 15th century poem by Sir Francis Drake…a dangerous prayer to pray…

Disturb us Lord,
When we are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore…….(Continued)

Just a quick update on the run: yesterday I was preaching in Dusseldorf. Today I am in Tostdet, a little town on the outskirts of Hamburg. Tomorrow I will preach here again, before traveling on to Singapore.

It’s Pentecost Sunday today and so the theme of the services was right up my alley. I must say that the burden of the Lord came over me this morning so strongly as I got up to preach. I was about 1/3 through my message when the Holy Spirit just took over and I can hardly remember anything that was said or done for the rest of the service. All I know is the fire fell!

So I’ve decided that it’s time to get back in shape and my method of choice is a 90-day workout and diet plan called P90X. One unique feature of this program is that all the workouts are on video and you follow along with a virtual room full of muscle bound athletes that seem to chuckle at you condescendingly as you struggle with your 6th chin up.

A couple of days ago, my 6-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter were joined by their mother who decided that they wanted to exercise with me and so the four of us together were warming up for a invigorating plyometric workout. We were only about 5 minutes into the video – still somewhere in the stretches – when my son turned to me with great excitement and said, “Hey dad look…you almost got muscles…look at your elbows!”.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, I want to apologize for the long stretch of silence. I am fine and everything is going great. Actually my spirit is full of things to say, but the time to write has been illusive. As a ministry, we have been involved in intensive preparations for the next season of Gospel Campaigns, which will result in literally millions of salvations. Also, since I wrote last, we have had some incredible meetings in Europe; Belgium and the U.K. Even now I am in Germany on an extended ministry tour that will take us around the globe. Thank you for continuing to pray for our team as we go in obedience to the call……(Continued)

Often the gifts and miracles have been thought of as being intended only for a small group of elite Christians with big ministries and full-time preaching careers. But in the early Church, even the ushers were walking in this power! Why? Because they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Power was part in parcel of the Christian experience. It was for the layman, for the businessman, for the blue-collar and white-collar workers. It was for everyone! The power of the Holy Spirit was not considered something extraordinary, but something normal and expected. Today the unfortunate reality is that many people think it is a rare gift if their pastor has integrity and wisdom…forget being full of faith and demonstrating miracles…..(Continued)

I’ve just finished reading a fantastic book (for the second time) that I would highly recommend to anyone who has a hunger for the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I read it straight through in two sittings and found it nearly impossible to stop. Around the 11th or 12th chapter my spirit was so full, I felt like I would burst. I just had to put the book down and open up the prayer valve to let off some steam. It is more than intellect to intellect writing, but it felt to me like spirit to spirit impartation. The book is “HOLY SPIRIT revelation & revolution”, by Reinhard Bonnke. I have included a couple of excerpts below that I thought were especially poignant…….(Continued)

Dear Mission Partners,

We have just received word from our campaign director, during the 5 days of last week 362,978 people received Jesus as their Savior and completed a decision card in Takum, Nigeria! Praise be to God! Jesus saves, heals and delivers.

Thank you so much for all your help and prayers. Now the rainy season begins in West Africa, but preparations are already underway and we are eagerly anticipating our next campaign in August and we pray for the necessary funds.

Yours in His love and service,
Evangelists Daniel Kolenda and Reinhard Bonnke
Together with the whole CfaN Team

We have a tradition in our house that whenever I travel, I always bring back gifts for the family. (Truth be told, Im just attempting to bribe them to let me come back:-) My wife is the most “low-maintenance” of all. Her only request is for a refrigerator magnet. Needless to say, our refrigerator is covered in magnets from exotic locations around the globe.

Having said that, this morning, I heard her chuckling this as she read the newspaper. I came to see what was so funny and she showed me this comic (below). It seems that she has found in the wife of “Hagar the Horrible” a sympathetic friend. I told her she should cut it out and stick it on the refrigerator with one of the “souvenir magnets”. This one is for all evangelist’s wives…..(Continued)

Let’s think about committees for a moment. Although I am on more committees than I can probably name off the top of my head, I view them all with suspicion. Why? Because committees tend to operate by consensus, which is all-too-often a barrier against inspiration. Let’s face it: committees are known to make mistakes. Case in point: When Oswald J. Smith died in his late 90’s, Billy Graham preached his funeral and told the large, assembled crowd, “We are here to honor the greatest missionary mind of the 20th century.” Yet, when Smith, in his early 20’s, applied to his denomination for missions appointment, that committee rejected him out-of-hand, reporting, “Sorry, you are not missions material!” All of watching Heaven must have greeted that decision with a resounding, “HA!”