Todd Bentley is “Bringing Biblical Light to Your Questions about the Lakeland Outpouring & Todd Bentley” via an article at this link.
The article includes a link to a booklet that Carl of Revival Blog mentioned earlier in the week. Good stuff there.
If you have questions, concerns, or curiosities about what is variously called the “Florida Healing Revival” and the “Florida Outpouring”, be sure to carefully read both articles.
Todd had this to say about critics (emphasis is mine, to reflect what’s on the video):
“I can hear people saying, ‘you know what? I wouldn’t want to go into that meeting and act like that preacher in the pulpit right now.’
Well that’s why I’ll have a worldwide revival while you’re doing whatever you’re doing. ‘Cause I don’t care. I just want Jesus – I just want Jesus – I just want Jesus
- so sit there in your home, sit there in your little church, and judge and criticize, or come and be touched by the power of God.
And if that means there’s gonna be a little manifestation, I’m telling you, you can not have revival with a clean trough, the trough is gonna be messy. But I want Jesus more than I want the favor of man, I want Jesus more than I want the blessing and opinion of man. And I just don’t care what you think.
People are getting saved – people are getting healed – people are getting delivered – and we’re hungry for Jesus. “
Todd Bentley, Florida Healing Revival @ The Lakeland Convention Center, May 25, 2008
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/439517 — scroll forward to 2:12:38 for that clip (but the whole service is great)
Ken and I are trying to prepare for a few contingencies. After all, sooner or later we’ll have to perform a wedding ceremony, baby dedication, or funeral. Comes with the territory.
Baby dedications are fairly simple and don’t need an elaborate ceremony, and it all lends to a message that’s easy to preach and won’t require more preparation than others. Weddings, on the other hand, are almost always elaborate, with many customs and such attached (such as whether the bride’s mother or groom’s mother gets seated first.) Not our forte – so we’ve found a couple of websites that outline wedding ceremonies from plain to extravagant. Not easy. But not rocket science for the pastor.
Funerals, on the other hand, are thorny. I think I could preach the funeral of a relative stranger or acquaintance, but how do you preach the funeral of someone you love? Our church members are our family – we’re united by the Blood, even if not by direct genetics. I suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. And I suppose that preaching the funeral of someone we know is in heaven won’t be so difficult. It is, after all, a celebration of one’s homegoing.
But what of funerals for children? That’s got to be hard. Families don’t want theological or intellectual explanations. Or worse, for someone we are 99.9% sure is unsaved (can’t discount that last-minute confession of faith, but I’m convinced they’re rare)?
I’ve tried googling about for examples on that last… and all I’ve found either comfort the grieving that because God is merciful, their loved one will find mercy. Er… no. If their loved one got judged on his own merits, rather than those of Jesus, that person is in hell. That’s a stark, cold, slap-you-in-the-face reality. I hate the thought so much that as I typed it, tears formed. Yet we can’t change reality. Truth is truth, no matter how unpleasant. At the same time, though, we can’t slap that family in the face with this fact. If they’re believers, they know it already; if they’re not, parading it around surely will not help. I’ve read sermons which are like this. 
So – how do you preach the funeral of someone who wasn’t saved?
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that we’ve been attending a wonderful church while in the midst of following God’s call to plant a church ourselves.
Acts Temple is a wonderful church. Pastor Jury Price and Co-Pastor Mike Dixon and all the leaders and people are just *awesome*. If someone was to come to Flowing River Fellowship (the church we’re planting) and they felt like they weren’t a good fit here, I wouldn’t hesitate to send them to Acts Temple. If we weren’t called to ministry / called for now, Acts would definitely be our home church.
But.
For a while now, we’ve been hearing from God that it’s time to start Sunday worship at Flowing River Fellowship. We’ve been meeting on Tuesday nights, and it’s been good. If we were to continue on Tuesdays, it would likely still be good. But it wouldn’t be God’s best for this church, and that’s what we want!
We’re sensing something with Acts Temple. A disconnect. We’ve felt this feeling before when it was time to move on. It’s always been immediately preceded by hearing from God about it.
See, we thought we could be part of one congregation while growing another. We’d started to get comfortable there, to go with the flow of things, to step into roles. It felt good and right. But it wasn’t what God really wanted for us. Oh, I do believe that He brought us there… but I think we overstayed His welcome. We should’ve gone when we started FRF, regardless of whether we met on Tuesdays, Sundays, or whenever.
The point isn’t that we’ll be busy in one place on Sunday so we can’t be at another… the point is that we can’t have our time and efforts divided between two congregations. If we’re going to be a part of a congregation, we need to focus on the needs of that congregation. Not another. I’m not saying that two churches (or ten) can’t be a help to one another, work on joint projects, learn from one another, and so on. I AM saying that each church needs to focus on its own efforts (without being inwardly focused!!) – whether as an individual congregation, or as a cooperative effort.
For example – Acts Temple put on a wonderful hot dog supper a ways back. It was a great thing and really ministered to some of Level Cross’s low-income residents. At least one family hadn’t had anything at all to eat recently! Yet when we went door to door, Ken and I felt very conflicted. Here we are planting a church, and inviting people to come to another church that we’re a part of. It’s a bit illogical. Not because FRF and AT are in any sort of competition… we should each be building the community of our own congregations.
I could draw a picture of what I’m trying to say, and maybe I will, because I don’t feel like I’ve expressed it well.
So – next Sunday morning we’ll be having services here. Hopefully our people will be able to handle the rapid transition. This isn’t how we like to make changes – but obedience is what counts here.
Today we’re hanging out. We’ll pray, work some on the logistics, keep plugging away at the Articles of Incorporation, and get some housework done. It’s been a busy week, ministry wise, and the housework seems to always come last.
I need to rant for a moment on behalf of people that Jesus loves … but much of the church hates. I’ve just heard from yet another ex-pagan who has gone from church to church in her city, and at nearly every one she is despised and rejected. I’ve heard from others (and seen it!) who are poor by the world’s standards. They don’t have nice clothes and can’t put a lot of money in the plate. They’re not welcome at certain churches either.
What is the church? A country club, where only the elite can hobnob?
Some people have a terrible, rude awakening coming to them… see Matthew 25.
I'm a laid-down lover of Jesus Christ. I write about my King and His Kingdom, the Bible, revival, healing, prophecy, faith, and more... plus I throw in recipes, tips, news and politics items, reviews, and all sorts of random things just for fun. Until recently, I was known as "Kathi"... but my name is now Kay. It's a good, God thing... :) The opinions expressed in this blog are mine and mine only - not necessarily shared by my husband, our church, my employers, or anyone else.
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