The Week That Changed My LIfe

Fourteen years ago today, I was in Toronto, Canada for a conference at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.  I would spend seven days there and as I look back, this was an event that shaped me and changed my life forever.

In August of 1998, I had begun full-time ministry with Gadsden Vineyard Church as associate pastor. Our fellowship had been touched by this renewal that was taking place in Toronto. The renewal started in January of 1994, when Randy Clark, a Vineyard pastor from St. Louis, had been asked by John and Carol Arnott to come and speak for a revival. John and Carol were burned out. They were dry and at the point that if God didn't do something in their lives, they were ready to quit. What took place next would become the topic of much conversation, good and bad. Randy came to Toronto and began the meeting.....The Holy Spirit showed up in their meeting with great power and presence. People wept, people laughed, people went down under the presence of God's Holy Spirit. (this falling down was later deemed "carpet time". Not knowing what to do next, John,Carol, Randy and the people of the church continued to meet. Each night, the power and presence grew. Each night more and more people came to the meeting as word got out that something was happening at this small fellowship.

Three days of meetings turned into 5 weeks. They met seven days a week as people from all over Canada began to show up to receive a fresh touch from God. Five weeks turned into months, and the months rolled by into years. We got word of the renewal in May of 94 from a good friend, Randy Horvath, who lived in Canada. He had called Jim Bentley, senior pastor of GVC, and told him that something was going on in Toronto, and that we had better get up there. Well, we of the Vineyard have always been a peculiar bunch of people and the thought of God doing something was all it took. Jim and some others from our fellowship made the trek to Toronto. God truly was there. Randy had not been lying. They came back changed. Manifestations of God's Holy Spirit filled our meetings and we found ourselves in the middle of a renewal at Gadsden Vineyard Church. That was 1994....now flash forward to 1998.

The renewal is still going strong in Toronto. They have been meeting 6 nights a week now for over 4 years. Jim felt that it was time for me to go. The church sent me to the Catch The Fire conference. There, I heard incredible teaching from John and Carol Arnott, Randy Clark, Frank Houston, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Prankard and John Pressdee. Worship for that conference was headed up by two incredible blues guitarist, Bryn Haworth and Dave Markee. Little did I know that this conference and these two men who lead worship would be the spark that ignited me to began doing House of Blue recovery church. This would lead to me doing volunteer teaching at Rapha Treatment Center, A drug and alcohol rehab. Follow the trail, and here I am today because of that week in Toronto and my encounter with God there in that renewal.

I remember standing in the main hall during the conference, looking around at the crowd. Here in this building was the body of Christ like I had never seen it before. From every nation, tribe and tongue, praise to God filled the air. It was a bit overwhelming to suddenly realize that the Kingdom of God was bigger than our little town. It encompassed the world. I remember riding back to the hotel, sharing a taxi with a man from Taiwan. He asked me if I would pray for him. His village had gotten word of what was happening in Toronto and they pooled all their resources to send someone to bring back to them this fresh anointing that was being poured out. With tears in his eyes, he told me, "please pray that I take back everything my people need." I prayed. I don't know what happened to the man.....I never saw or heard from him again. But I have no doubt that God didn't answer his prayer. Somewhere in a village in Taiwan, God is alive and well be cause of one man who brought back what the village needed.

I will share more of this story tomorrow....
God on you....

mb