Letter To The Church Family

Dear Christ Church Family,

A few years ago, Alberto Motessi, a much respected Latin American evangelist, called me with a strange request. He wanted me to go with him to Mexico City to visit a Catholic priest. The priest had just been excommunicated for his public stance on the gospel and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The day I arrived, the priest, who was an older man, showed me some vegetables from a town in Guatemala that had experienced a massive move of the Lord. If I try to describe the size of the carrots and cabbage that he showed me, you will surely believe that I am exaggerating. I had heard of this phenomenon but had been “just a bit skeptical.” Now I was seeing them with my own eyes.

We went on to that service that Wednesday evening where over eight thousand people were worshipping in an open field. I can still hear and feel the power of their prayer.

In his video series “Transformations,” George Otis tells the story of the Guatemalan revival. He tells how the blessings of God on the agricultural produce completely reordered the economic life of the Guatemalan people in that area.

Ottis also tells about other cities in the world that have experienced similar transformations.

These stories are true. I was once skeptical but I have seen with my own eyes what God is doing in many parts of the world.

Why not here?

This is the question we should ask as we enter the Pentecost season.

In Never Silent, Bishop Thad Barnum, a highly educated Episcopal priest, tells how his encounter with the East African revivals turned his life around. As he dedicated his life to the Lord, he was forced to reorder his life and relationships but in return, he experienced the presence and power of God in a brand new way. He claims that Christian leaders around the world now worry about our commitment to the gospel and are praying that we join the current move of God now shaking the globe.

Will we? 

During this season, we will explore what it means to open up our church and ourselves to the presence, power and direction of the Holy Spirit. We are going to study what the scriptures say about the work of the Holy Spirit. Then we are going to invite Him to enter (and to reorder) our church as it pleases Him. 

We will invite you to view the transformation videos, to read literature and to study the scriptures together. We will pray that the Lord will use Thad Barnum who will join us on the Friday before Pentecost and will be with us all day that Sunday. 

I don’t know if the Lord will bless our agriculture, descend in tongues of fire, or send great blasts of wind into the worship services. Such have occurred around the world and may or may not occur here; that is the Lord’s sovereign business.  However, we know He will come if invited and if we are ready to do things His way.

Please pray that we will be sensitive and obedient as we enter this wonderful and exciting season.

 

Pastor Dan Scott