25th September 2008

Long summer without blogging. Good one in many ways – family time, faithful plowing on in ministry, taking time to reflect, trying to slacken pace without slackening in pursuing God’s presence. Typical church leader’s summer I guess.

A hard summer in other ways. A few days of real weariness, mental struggle and, I think, satanic oppression, heading into September. Do I really want to press in more, for another season? Wouldn’t it be easier to choose another area of ministry that doesn’t feel like it’s on the spiritual front line quite so much? The flesh wars against the Spirit, the enemy rushes in, yet God through it all tests & refines my heart.

Come through that now and also the disappointment around Todd Bentley regarding Lakeland. Another leader stumbles, but rarely such a high profile one in the midst of battle. Who can choose the time of God’s outpouring and whose heart is truly without weakness that can be probed in the heat of battle? We have aligned ourselves with the Lakeland outpouring, both in Ignite and in the Beacon house of prayer, believing it to be an authentic revival outpouring, from our firsthand experience there. We aren’t thrown by Todd being sidelined. We pray for his full restoration, personally and in ministry; we are disappointed that the key fire starter of this revival has been prevented from stoking more fires in this critical season.

However, Lakeland for us has never been about Todd Bentley but about what God is doing. We are convinced that the winds of change are happening across the nations and that it is a new season. The church is being empowered and equipped with fresh anointing ahead of a season of global turmoil. What will we do with what God is releasing? We must press in, we cannot slacken off. It is time for leaders to seek the Lord, asking what am I receiving from You in this season? How can I walk in greater anointing to meet the needs of this hour and the ministry You have entrusted to me?

God bless
William

12th July 2008

I’ve just returned from the annual Methodist Conference. As one on the edge of institutional Methodism, it was an eye-opening experience for me. A week of debates, worship, networking, business, paper, vision, re-organising, strategy, pomp and ceremony and so on.

Going from Ignite conferences, where God’s fire has been falling on people, and from our local house of prayer, where we are forcefully taking hold of kingdom promises of revival and spiritual breakthrough in our land, to a traditional religious body like the Conference, is quite a culture shock.

Some things that have stood out to me from being there. Most positively, there is a new mission mood across the denomination; fresh ways of being church and new mission initiatives are indicators to people there of God re-forming the church for mission, that there is a genuine breath of the Spirit in the church. Also encouraging is the desire across the church to engage in the issues of the day and to be a prophetic voice to our culture if our voice can be heard.

Less positively, there is a fanaticism with agendas, religious order, doing things properly and with excess scrutiny, which doesn’t easily equate to releasing the life of the kingdom of becoming a free-flowing missional movement. The feeling engendered in Conference is almost that our spiritual life can be methodically worked out, presented, adopted, agreed and passed down through districts to local level, to widespread mental assent. Done deal! The reality is that, more often, spiritual life irrupts in chaotic ways, and its essence is captured and expressed in more formalised ways. I know that it is both/and rather than either/or, but it did more often feel that we were trying to capture massive weather systems in test tubes.

Still I came away, having contributed, received some hope about our denomination, renewed friendships, found much fuel for intercession, and kept my spirit steadfast about the unusual sense of calling on our ministry with Ignite as a revivalist one – stirring up fires and being harbingers and harvesters of revival in our generation.

Blessings
William

12th June 2008

It’s been a month since my last blog. Not that things haven’t happened, rather that so much has happened that reflective blogging has had to wait. We went out to Florida to the revival healing meetings three weeks ago! Everything has been up in the air beforehand and running fast with God since getting back. I have to say that, hearing about the revival outpouring initially I wasn’t particularly longing to go, for it felt significant praying and worshipping with the TV broadcasts of the revival. However, whilst watching on TV one night, I felt strongly that God was telling me that revival was coming to the UK and that Stoke on Trent was to be an epicentre. I felt that we should go there so that God could set us on fire with the life and power of the Spirit to spread revival here.

So two weeks ago Karen & I plus our two children Joshua and Sarah went out to Florida, along with three friends from our house of prayer. We have had an amazing time in so many ways. Eight days of soaking in God’s glory, witnessing hundreds of miracles through the name of Jesus, sharing with people from many nations of the world, and being filled with His beautiful Spirit. I sent a text message back home after day two saying, ‘great days. Glory of God tangible and all lost in worship as meetings seem a beautiful chaos with Spirit sovereignly moving, anointing and healing many. Our children discussing their favourite miracle at breakfast!’

Our hearts have been drawn out beyond return. There is so much in this outpouring that has witnessed with our spirits about spiritual breakthrough in our nation and the glory that is coming upon the church in these days. It feels that we are not such a lone voice speaking about revival after all, but one of many ‘nameless and faceless’ Christians rising up to press into the anointing of God for kingdom mission.

Four things about these revival meetings have been impressed on us coming back:

1) The excitement of being in the initial stages of a spiritual outpouring. The team running the meetings are as overwhelmed as the rest of us at what God was doing, and trying to organise the life that was spilling out and flow with the powerful anointing of the Spirit for healing and salvation

2) The privilege of joining together with hundreds of Christian leaders from around the world. We are all hungry for the presence of God and revival fire. People are travelling in every day, many with little money, sent by churches or coming expectant for a fresh touch from God to impact their area with kingdom life and revival fire.

3) The awesome experience of being caught up in the atmosphere of God’s glory. We were lost in wonder, love and praise as the Spirit orchestrated the congregation in wave after wave of worship, prayer, crying out to God, seeking His face in a way that brought heaven down and made a place where God released incredible healings and miracles.

4) The desire of the team to bless the world with this revival. There are significant prophetic words about this outpouring touching the globe in a new empowering of the church for healing and harvest. They clearly want to impart this revival anointing to any who want to take it back to their city or region.

We have come back full of God and want to press in to see God release more of His life and glory in this city, region and nation! More to blog as we unpack this & release it more here.

God bless
William

15th May 2008

Last week’s Ignite leaders day was great! We had the biggest turn out since we started and we crammed into the Beacon house meeting room. What happens is so simple really – we worship, pray together, listen to someone sharing inspiration from God’s word and minister to each other – but it feels so rich and refreshing to be together in that environment. Worship times are beginning to feel more weighty and gatherings like this are beginning to feel more significant.

Jane Holloway from Birmingham’s World Prayer Centre spoke in the morning. She was challenging and inspiring in good measure and added fuel to the fire of intercession and ministry for leaders there. It is always encouraging to hear the wider picture and to sense the breadth of what God is doing, as we press in for our part. Jane reminded us that this is felt by many to be a year of an open door, and led into prayer that it also might become the year of an open heaven.

Linda & Nick Holt ministered in the afternoon, Linda hot from the revival fire in Lakeland, Florida. She shared about the sense of integrity about the way the team are handling this move of the Spirit and about the awesome presence of the Lord in the meetings. This anointing of the Spirit seems very contagious for folk who return from the revival gatherings, and so Linda & Nick prayed for everyone in the room, that we might receive more fire from the Lord.

There is a growing, burning conviction in me that revival fire is coming to the UK. Those who are hungry will receive – hungry hearts, open churches, desperate cities. Starving people don’t stand on ceremony when food is presented, nor take offence and how it is packaged. Of course they check to see if the food is of quality and not contaminated, but then they dive in. How to maintain a hungry heart and discerning spirit! I’m praying right now that God would give me more revelation, understanding and wisdom. Revelation of Him and what He is doing in these days; understanding of how to run creatively in mission with a revival move of God soon to come; wisdom of how to structure church around the fiery life of the Spirit. Lord, give us more of these and more of You.

William

1st May 2008

I’m more aware this week that God is on the move and there is anticipation in the air of the church. Miracle healings taking place amongst hundreds in Lakeland, Florida, viewed and participated also by millions on God TV and webcast. Similar spiritual outpouring started at Rick Joyner’s Morning Star ministries in the States and some powerful impartation meetings occurring in Dudley, Birmingham this week. 20,000 people respond to Christ in crusades in Poland, overwhelming the organisers. 500 young people become Christians in the Rhonnda valley of Wales last month. Fasting and praying by many faithful Christians is happening ahead of the global day of prayer on 10th May. ‘The Call’ youth event in Israel is soon to take place, bringing together tens of thousands of on fire teenagers committed to serving Christ.

The word that is starting to be used to describe the coming days for the church is ‘glory’. Not the glory of the church, that we might look good, but the glory of the Lord, that more of His kingdom is released and His end-time purposes fulfilled as the return of Jesus draws ever closer. Tommy Tenney coined the phrase ‘God chasers’ to describe those with a passion to see the presence and glory of God more clearly manifest in our day. One of my prayers during a current time of prayer and fasting is that Jesus would draw out many thousands of God chasers, in our local house of prayer, in our city, in our Ignite network and across the nation. The more a vision of God’s glory grows in us, it becomes a desperate cry, ‘Lord, I don’t want to live without Your glory’. It will look different in different places, but the outbreak of signs of His kingdom and a heightened awareness in church and community of His awesome presence will certainly mark these coming days.

I believe that God is looking for those who will prepare a place of divine visitation and holy habitation of His manifest presence, and consequently that He wants us to actually live in His glory. The generations of Moses, Elijah, the apostles and past revivalists lived in such a dimension, and that is God’s promise and challenge to us now.

Blessings
William

24th April 2008

I don’t hear revival talked about much these days, as I have mentioned before in these blogs. Not until this last week that is! Two things have made my ears prick up. One was the visit of Kbile Akani to Manchester cathedral last weekend. My friend Paul was organising the event and the whole theme was ‘towards revival in the UK’. Kbile’s experience of outpourings in his nation in Africa made his teaching powerful and challenging. It was a wake up call to churches to look for the things which only God can do, and to rise in faith to believe for fresh outpourings of the Spirit.

Over the same weekend we have begun to hear about Todd Bentley’s healing revival meetings in Lakeland, Florida. God TV is covering the crusade which has quickly become nightly powerful meetings drawing in TV & internet audiences of over 250,000 in the last three weeks. The meetings are marked with miraculous healings and an awesome, almost overwhelming sense of the manifest presence of God.

My wife has been sick the last week, but has been vibrant with faith as she has watched from the couch. Last night we sat and watched Che Ann from California, used by God in ministering revival since the 90’s, prophesying that this is a 3rd wave (after Toronto and Pensacola) that God wants to go around the world. Pastors and church leaders are starting to travel on pilgrimage to Lakeland to enter into this move of God. Testimonies are coming on God TV of people sat at home, being healed, delivered and overcome with the glory of God where they are.

All this in the middle of my local context of citywide 40 days of prayer and fasting for spiritual breakthrough and the glory of God in our locality. I’m a bit blown away by this and my faith is challenged by the Lord, ‘do you believe I can do this again in your day? What will you chase after?’ Watch this space…!

William

3rd April 2008

I’ve just returned from a week of ministering to Christian leaders. We were at the ECG new conference in chilly Llandudno the week after Easter – a good new Christian event aimed at inspiring a prophetic church to change the world. My wife and I were facilitating the leadership stream of seminars each day. What a privilege! Opening up issues that leaders struggle with was a responsibility for us and yet it became one of those rare opportunities when leaders were able to be vulnerable with each other.

Maybe it helped that, for those of us who led them, we had struggled ourselves with the issues of a leader’s identity, vision, sacrifice and legacy. We had battle scars to show and lessons that the Lord had taught us to share. God was evidently in the midst of those seminars, putting people alongside each other to share & pray, highlighting words of hope and encouragement. I think of the apostle Paul’s desire for his protégé Timothy, that he would be fully equipped for every good work.

Looking out over the seminar room and over the faces of the conference, I know that many challenges lay ahead of each of us as leaders this year. So to be better equipped spiritually for what faces us is a real gift from God. It is so in line with the vision behind Ignite – to renew and resource leaders for missional church and revival harvest.

Lord, strengthen us as leaders and lead us on.

William