“So Matt – what are your thoughts on what is happening at the Awakening Meetings at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City?” I’ve  been asked… so let me tell you.

But before I get to that question, allow me to give a bit of background to my thoughts on it.

I get a lot of emails. That probably isn’t terribly surprising. But what might be surprising is the incredible variety that I get. With the advent of the internet and bloggers, we have unprecedented and immediate access to the thoughts of preachers and “spiritual pundits” all over the country and all over the world. Some of these are men and women that are known and respected in the Body of Christ. Others are somewhat anonymous people, either unfamiliar to us or ones who are actually utilizing online aliases to conceal their identity.   I get a lot of emails from people who forward the comments and thoughts of these bloggers and preachers. And yes, the variety is quite interesting. I get several email forwards from those in the prophetic/charismatic circles that draw attention to the unique things that God is doing in Toronto or Pensacola or Lakeland or Kansas City – and why we all need to go there and get what’s to be gotten. However, these will often do so with very little discernment and a recognition that we need to test things, sift through it, and determine what is of God and what is not. On the other hand, I get lots of email forwards that also talk about some of these same places where God is “supposedly” moving. They are quick to point out the sins (or past sins) of the teachers or leaders, the false-teaching (or past false-teaching) of these men or women. They highlight the strange manifestations of the meetings or the preachers. One that I recently read made the case that the manifestations that we see in some of these so called centers of renewal or revival bear more resemblance to a weird sect in Hinduism than New Testament Christianity.

There is one critical problem that I keep running into with almost all of these emails. Both sides suffer from the same false assumption when they look at these so-called moves of God. The one side says, “If any of it is of God, then all of it is of God.” Therefore discernment is unnecessary. The other side says, “If any of it isn’t of God, then none of it is of God.” Therefore total avoidance and warning others to do the same is the way forward. Although this might be offensive to some, I believe both of these responses are examples of immature ways to respond. Maturity recognizes that when God genuinely moves, there will be often be a mixture. Not because there is a problem with God – but because we are broken people who respond in brokenness. Both in the leaders and in the participants. God may genuinely be moving but there is some brokenness and some self that gets mixed in. Is that surprising? It shouldn’t be. That is why we are commanded to test things and to be discerning. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 says, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” Immaturity disobeys this instruction by failing to test things and be discerning. Immaturity also disobeys this instruction by quenching the work of the Spirit and despising true prophecy because God doesn’t come in a manner that they expect or understand. I don’t want to fail on either point.  I don’t want to quench the Spirit by moving from a discerning spirit to a critical one. I definitely don’t want to be guilty of attributing something to Satan that is genuinely of God.  (Jesus had some strong words for the Pharisees in Matthew 12 about that.) It doesn’t surprise me that there will be this mixture because I know my own heart. When I preach, when I teach, when I give, when I offer hospitality, when I pray – there is mixture that shows up in my own heart at times. So when the Spirit is genuinely moving, there is going to be a mixture in the way ministry is lead and in the way in which it is received. Maturity, I believe, recognizes this mixture and wades into the messiness to discern what is truly of God (and worthy to be held onto) and what is not (and needs to be avoided.)

So in this range of the emails that I get, I tend to have problems with both sides. Many are way too undiscerning and unwilling to say when something is not right. For many more though, I believe they are overly critical and fail to acknowledge God’s wonderful work – in the midst of the messiness – to save and heal and set free and deliver and to communicate aspects of God’s heart. The reality is that their critique cuts in both directions. Frankly, many of these preachers and bloggers are from churches and spiritual communities that have meetings that bear more resemblance to a meeting of the Socialist Party of Yugoslavia in 1970 than the New Testament Church. There is some fellowship and socialization. There is some care and concern for one another expressed. There is a recruitment of others into their group. There is some teaching. There is some instruction for their children. There are some planned activities to better the community.  There is even some singing – and financial contribution. But when was the last time they saw somebody healed or delivered of a demon or a prophetic message from the Lord given or a tongue with an interpretation. (Read Mark 16:16-18 and 1 Corinthians 14:26.) But I wonder why there aren’t bloggers and pundits exposing these “false teachers” and leaders for their failure to represent New Testament Christianity. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul warns us that in the last days there would be men and women “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people…. (they are ones who are) always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” From my evaluation, most of these bloggers and pundits seem to fall in that category. Many of them speak and write in a manner that seems to have wisdom – but fail at what James tells us is “true wisdom” in James 3. He says in verse seventeen, “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” Most of these bloggers and spiritual pundits fail on this account as well. But you know what… even that’s okay with me. In the same manner, I can recognize they are also broken people who are allowing their brokenness and flesh to get mixed into some of what they are speaking and representing as well. In a similar manner, I try to wade into the fleshly messiness of their “expose” and receive that which is good and avoid that which is evil.

So that brings me back to my thoughts on what is happening in Kansas City. For those of you who do not know, there has been a rather significant move of God that began in one their student classes at the International House of Prayer and has lead to a series of nightly Awakening Services. Earlier this month, I went to IHOP with a few other leaders from Bethany Church and we had the opportunity to be in some of these services. So what do I think?

1. I believe it is a genuine and true move of God. I know and trust many of the leaders. There have been countless powerful testimonies of God’s saving, healing, and delivering work. The fruit of it has been so good in so many ways. Personally, I received a couple of powerful things from the Lord during these services – and frankly, experienced some spiritual “manifestation” stuff that I wouldn’t have ever asked for and really didn’t want. But you know what? Thankfully, God sometimes gives you what you need and not what you want. I personally needed to experience some of the things that I did to break me free from the fear of man, from control, and from a religious spirit. I needed to experience some of what I did to break me into a greater place of joy in the Holy Spirit. (That is a fruit of the Spirit’s work in our lives by the way.) Looking back on those days, the fruit in my life has been tremendously good. I love God more. I love people more. I am more deeply committed to God’s purposes in my life. That is the store that I tell – not the specific kind of manifestation that I experienced, etc.
2. However, there are some ways in which I believe sin and brokenness creeps into these meetings and gets mixed into the good things that God is doing. Definitely on the part of the participants but possibly even with leaders. I saw some things that my discernment told me were people getting caught up in the moment or just trying their best to get in the flow of what God was doing – but had their eyes on people and not on God. But again, that doesn’t surprise me or cause me to demonize the whole thing as some have. God chooses to work through people. And the flesh gets mixed in. But don’t be mistaken. Flesh can look very different. The flesh can show up on a Sunday morning in a church that has none of these manifestations but has bowed to the altar of “control” and religion – a church that only allows God to do things in a manner that is comfortable or makes sense to their rational mind. But yes, the flesh does show up in these meetings and manifestations. Perhaps at IHOP, where their ministry philosophy is such that it allows “anyone who loves Jesus” to minister to others, this has created an environment that contributes to greater messiness. Perhaps not. But that is one way that I would do things differently. I would prefer to have a recognized ministry team that is known and trusted in the context of praying for others.
3. I am not going to be one who will judge very quickly manifestations and determine which ones are from God and which ones are not. Just because I think it is goofy or weird, that isn’t reason enough for me to say that God wouldn’t do it that way. Read your Bible again. If we followed this premise, most of the prophets would be offensive to us and rejected, and many of the things that Jesus and the apostles did wouldn’t fit our criteria. Micah and Isaiah both prophesied naked. Isaiah did it for three years. (He didn’t live in Minnesota.) Elijah laid himself on top of a boy three times to bring about his healing. Elisha called on two bears to maul and kill forty-two children who were mocking him for his bald head. David brought two hundred foreskins of the Philistines to Saul as a gift. Yep. That’s right – foreskins. How about the New Testament? John the Baptist wore camel’s hair and ate locusts and honey in the desert. Did you catch that – locusts? Coo-coo. Jesus rebuked a fig tree and commanded it not to bear fruit anymore. A fig tree? Weird. He healed a guy’s eyes by spitting into the dirt and making some mud. Paul was healing people through handkerchiefs that had simply touched his skin. The Bible is full of strange stuff. God is God. He gets to do what He wants. Discernment is needed – but if He wants to give gold teeth, gold dust, feathers, holy laughter, or whatever – I’m not going to tell Him how He should do His stuff. I wouldn’t have recommended the prophets in the buff. But what do I do? I’m going to be discerning but I’m not going to reject it – or especially not mock it – just because I don’t like it or understand it.

I suppose I am one of those who is radically hungering for that elusive middle. Those are my thoughts… feel free to give me yours.

Earlier this month, I spent a few days at the International House of Prayer to attend their annual Leadership Summit. One of the speakers at the Summit was Billy Humphrey from the International House of Prayer – Atlanta. He spoke on the subject of building a culture of praying in the local church. It was one of those messages where you find someone giving clarity and language to a bunch of thoughts that had been jumbled up in your own mind for a while. Billy shared about the importance and necessity for the church to become reoriented around the place of prayer – and practically what that might look like for a church to take this step. More specifically, he shared with us that he and other leaders are becoming convinced that one of the Lord’s primary strategies for raising up the prayer movement at the end of the age will not be in “Houses of Prayer” (like IHOP, etc) but to call local churches back to the place of prayer and to rediscover their identity “as a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7, Matt. 21:13). That has led many different prayer networks to come together and introduce something called “The Praying Church Initiative” – to help raise this banner, connect those seeking to make this transition, and to provide practical tips and resources to help. While it is still in its infancy and the site is still being developed, there are already several great blog posts on their website that I’d encourage you to take a look at. You can find that website here.

We at Bethany Church have heard this call and are asking the Lord what it means for us to become radically committed to the place of prayer. By and large, the Church in the West is graciously being confronted with our barrenness by the Lord. We have the best resources, technology, techniques, and methodology – and yet we are seeing a church that is producing very little true spiritual fruit. The Lord is mercifully allowing us to come face-to-face with our barrenness, as painful as it is, to bring us to a place where we return to Him and cry out to Him for His presence. There is rather well-known story of a group of American pastors who were visiting Dr. Cho’s church in South Korea – the largest church in the world. As good Americans generally do (with pens and notepads ready), they asked “What is the secret of this church’s growth?” The Koreans responded by saying that it was fasting and prayer. After a brief pause, the Americans asked again… “Yes, but besides that what are you doing to make this church grow?” Of course, there has to be something else? There is an offense to prayer. There is a huge mental obstacle to fasting. It seems too simple and unsophisticated for our culture and for our generation. But that is the very nature of the Mustard Seed Kingdom. The mustard seed seems so small and insignificant, easily over-looked. Prayer is easily overlooked. It seems insignificant. But it is the primary means by which the Lord is going to establish His purposes in and through His people. Men and women who are deeply rooted in a place of intimacy with the Lord, who truly operate at the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and who have learned what it means to lean on His strength and His anointing. Praying is the means by which the Lord is going to enable His Church to both thrive and survive in the last days. That is why we are seeking to see the Lord bring about this transition in our midst… to make us a Praying Church.

In his book “Why Revival Tarries,” Leonard Ravenhill says, “The man who can get believers to praying would, under God, usher in the greatest revival that the world has ever known.”

Amen. Make it so.

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My friend and colleague Rich Parks posted this prayer on his blog. It is from a few years ago when Allen Hood (from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City) was preaching at Bethany Church… before he got to preaching, he prayed a powerful prayer over our congregation. My faith was stirred again as I listened to it – and was reminded of God’s fervent pursuit of Bethany to be a people of prayer.

Here is that prayer…

Some time ago, the Lord began to speak to me about leading Bethany Church into a season of studying the Minor Prophets – not in an in-depth manner but an introductory level that will orient us to these powerful books and hopefully awaken a hunger to dig into them for ourselves. We will start that journey together this Sunday – as we begin to “Major on the Minors.”

There are twelve minor prophets – not “minor” because they are less important than what we know as the “major” prophets but “minor” because they are shorter than the others. The fact is that these books – difficult to pronounce, difficult to find – are extremely important for us to become familiar with. As a people living at the end of the age, it is critical for us to wrestle with the truths contained in them and the implications for our lives and the days ahead. Specifically, these prophetic books contain important truths to bring clarity to the events surrounding the Day of the Lord and the Second-Coming of Christ.

Between now and Easter, we will be giving ourselves to the study of these books. Each Sunday, I’ll hope to introduce you to the writer, the context of their writing, the recipients of their prophetic messages, the general outline to the book, and the major themes that are highlighted. I also hope to focus in one of these particular themes each week – a theme that I believe might have special relevance and importance to us at Bethany. Here’s our order… and yes, for you observant ones, I’m skipping Obadiah.  I don’t have anything against the guy. But I want to fit it in before Easter and can’t do them all. Obadiah drew the short-straw because it’s only twenty-one verses – you can study it yourself!

January 10th – Joel

January 17th – Jonah

January 24th – Micah

January 31st – Amos

February 7th – Hosea

February 14th – Nahum (Nothing says Valentine’s Day like Nahum.)

February 21st – Habakkuk

February 28th – Zephaniah

March 7th – Haggai

March 14th – Guest Speaker Mark Nysewander

March 21st – Zechariah (Full of so much good stuff! You’ll be blown away.)

March 28th – Malachi

I’m totally pumped – it’s going to be a great journey! Looking forward to kicking it off with you all at Bethany this Sunday!

I suppose I am a pretty reflective guy… that is, when my schedule and life are not so out of control that I only have the opportunity to think about the next thing on my calendar! There have been few things more valuable to me than the simple but powerful discipline of slowing down to reflect – to look back over the past month or quarter or year and allow the Lord to speak to me about that season. This enables me to walk forward with greater focus and greater intentionality, carrying those truths and the lessons of the past in how I chart my course in the future.

The New Year has always been one of the greatest opportunities for me to embrace this discipline of reflection. I know it is just another day, just another week – but the turning of the calendar, the challenge of writing 2010 instead of 2009 on my checks (who am I kidding – when was the last time I wrote out a check??) gives me a great opportunity to consider my life. Where am I at with my relationship with the Lord, with my calling as a husband and a father, as a friend, as the leader at Bethany Church, etc. This year, I have the tremendous opportunity to be away from the office for a few days to do some of this reflecting.

So – looking back over 2009… what are some of the key lessons at Bethany Church that I’m carrying forward with me?

1. Eschatology matters in a profound way. The study of the end-times and clear theology about how things are going to go down at the end of the age has a practical and powerful impact on how we live. You hear about pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, etc… I was your classic “pan-tribber” -  believing that it doesn’t really matter because it is all going to pan out in the end. But in 2008-2009, the Lord began to call me to the diligent study of the end-times. And as I have gained clarity about the end-times and the reality of the return of the Lord,  it has radically impacted my life – and will, I believe, radically impact my message. Revelation 1:3 gives a unique promise… “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”

2. Nothing can atone for a lack of prayer. 2008 and 2009 was a season of being confronted with our barrenness as the people of God – in my life and ministry, at Bethany Church, and in the American Church as a whole. Although it continues to be a battle for me personally, I have been asking the Lord to radically reorient my life around the place of prayer. Beyond me personally, on January 3rd of this past year, God gave me a powerful dream that spoke to the critical nature of establishing prayer at the core of who we are as a people at Bethany Church. I believe 2010 will be a year where we gain clarity into what that means and takes steps towards seeing this become a reality. In his book “Why Revival Tarries,” Leonard Ravenhill says, “The man who can get believers to praying would, under God, usher in the greatest revival that the world has ever known.”

3. God is really, really smart. It seems that we are constantly seeking to improve on God’s pattern for growing the church and developing a fruitful life of ministry. The simple and unsophisticated patterns and principles that we see in Scripture (a deep life of prayer, diligence in the Word of God, loving and caring for the poor, authentic loving community, the simple proclamation of the Gospel and the reality of a Coming King, and the demonstration of signs and wonders to confirm that message and the age to come) – seem a little too simple and unsophisticated to be successful in our modern and sophisticated age. So we are forever seeking to improve with our own ideas of how to grow the church – and our barrenness is becoming glaringly visible! I am not saying that we never innovate and allow the Holy Spirit to breathe creativity in how we function as a Body and how we communicate the message to our culture. Amen to that…. But I am hopeful that we will begin to return to a place of dependence upon the Holy Spirit – and that we won’t be offended by the simple “mustard-seed” nature of the Kingdom of God.

What lessons are you carrying forward with you?