A SURPRISING Conference
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
-Andrew Strom.
Even though I was the organizer, I was taken by surprise by the
'John-the-Baptist' Conference over the weekend. It has changed me
and brought me into a new place. There was a very good turnout
from all over North America (-even quite a few from Canada), and
mostly the preaching was all that I could have hoped for - but this
was not what really surprised and changed me. (-Though it helped).
I think as much as anything it was the PEOPLE whom God
brought to this gathering, and the feeling from so many of them
that NOW IS THE TIME to walk into what God has been calling
us into for so long. I have never felt this so strongly in our
previous gatherings. But now suddenly it is there.
I do not believe that the people on this List or at this Conference
are the type to rush ahead "in the flesh". We are mostly far too
burned-out on 'Religion' to find any appeal in that. God often
had to 'crush' it out of us in the past and so the thought of
creating another 'Ishmael' makes most of us sick to the stomach.
And so I was very surprised at the mood of the people - and it
opened some doorways that I had been holding closed inside
myself for fear of ever getting into 'striving' again. I had developed
a great fear of striking out and 'starting' something - maybe too
much fear. Perhaps it had been 'paralysing' me.
What am I really getting to here?
Well, the feeling was overwhelming by half-way through the
Conference that it was not good enough just to provide a
'Battle-Cry'. It was not right merely to get people fired-up and yet
never provide an answer to the basic question "SO WHAT DO
WE DO NOW?" It became glaringly obvious that there had to be
a 'Battle Plan' as well. I was totally unprepared for this turn of
events and we immediately began to seek God for answers. Some
of them God had already shown me over the years. But I had
been avoiding the topic.
When we asked how many people were feeling this way, there
was always a huge showing of hands. One of the things that
really became apparent was that people were feeling very "alone".
Often they have almost no-one to pray with who sees things the
way they do. This feeling was very widespread. So it is clear that
we need to use this List to connect people regionally, so they can
pray and fellowship and MAKE A LOUD TRUMPET-CALL in their
area. I am going to work out a way of doing this with the List.
(-Only for those who want to participate, of course) I apologise
that I have taken so long to see this.
But it is more than that. God is talking to us about GETTING THE
MESSAGE OUT in a far more effective way. -The message of
REPENTANCE and a return to "Book of Acts" Christianity.
We need a 'Battle-Plan' for doing this that does not involve starting
a new "church", but rather a way of 'raising our voice' all over the
nation in a new way. I believe it is very simple. And this is the time.
I believe this is heavy on the heart of God. He wants to see His
church and this nation repent.
The simple 'Battle-Plan' that came out of this weekend I am going
to publish as a separate email tomorrow. I believe it is important
for this List and I would ask each of you to read it carefully.
Also, we will be putting out a 2-CD set full of 160 minutes of audio
from the Conference next week. I think that overall, the preaching
was the most powerful of any event we have ever held. It went to
a new level, I believe. -A great weekend.
At this Conference we had many times when people came up
to the microphone to share or pray. This was also critical. The
Body was ministering to the Body. And the prayer meeting on
Sunday morning had just about the sweetest sense of God's
presence that I have ever felt in a prayer-meeting. All in all, it
was a truly wonderful weekend. Thankyou so much to all who
attended and everyone who prayed. My wife and I felt so much
better as the Conference began.
I will let you know about the CD's. And please watch out for the
'BATTLE-PLAN' email, my friends.
God bless you all.
Kindest regards in Christ,
Andrew Strom.