THE 2006 REVIVAL “Excuse me. I do not know who you are but the Lord told me to give you this money as a seed offering for the revival that is coming to your church!” Those words were spoken to me by a woman I had never met before, but we were both attending the January 2006 Winter Campmeeting services at Evangelist Rodney Howard Brown’s church in Tampa Florida. I was standing by the ministry product table in the lobby of the River Church when she approached me. “I cannot take that money,” I replied. “No” she answered. “I see the glory of God on you and the Lord told me it is for the revival that is coming to your church!” I did not quite know what to say as I looked at the $200 now in my hand. I had never been given money from a total stranger before. I thanked her and figured I would use the funds to purchase some of Rodney’s teaching products.
A few minutes later a man came up to me and said the same thing. “Sir, God wants to bless your church with a revival…and the Lord told me to give you this as an offering for the revival.” $100 cash was put in my hand. Then a second man came with the same words of admonishment and gave me another cash offering. I stood there, hardly knowing what to think. Within 20 minutes, with no encouragement in the service to bless someone and nothing that would point me out as a Pastor, three individuals who were strangers to me blessed me with over $400 and the same encouragement: “This is for the revival that is coming to your church.” I used the funds to
purchase all the product I could. Traveling home from Florida, I actually had to pay a charge for my suitcases that were now over the weight limit due to all the product I was carrying.
THE BEGINNING STIRRINGS I became the Lead Pastor of Bethel Pentecostal Church in Sarnia in the spring of 2004. I give much credit to Pastor Gary Nettleship, who I served with as assistant Pastor for 4 years prior at Bethel, for his emphasis on the move of the Spirit and his continual call to the church for revival. I was very blessed to have inherited a great church when I became the Pastor. A church that had a flow of worship and hunger for the things of God. When I started as Lead Pastor, I sensed a bit of fatigue in the people when it came to the subject of revival. It wasn’t that the church did not desire it, but there was a fatigue in wondering when it would come. I decided in my first months as Pastor to not even mention the word ‘revival,’ but instead to focus on missions and local outreach and to be the best Pastor I could be in my new role. It was in the Fall of 2005, in times of prayer, that I felt the Spirit gently emphasizing revival to my heart again. It was also during this time that I was having an unusual experience. For a period of 3 weeks, I kept having a vision of Evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne coming to me. I did not know what to make of this. Rodney had ministered at Zion Bible College in 1988 when I
was a student there. He had come as a Missionary from South Africa to America. I remembered him because I had never heard of a missionary to America and because of the moving of the Spirit in the services we had with him at Zion. I remembered hearing again about him when he held a revival in
Rodney Howard Browne Lakeland, Florida in the early 1990s that made national headlines and then the following controversy in what some called “the laughing revival”. I, however, only had a positive sense about Rodney from the meetings I attended when he ministered at the Bible College. But that was now 18 years ago, and I had never been to another meeting where Rodney was ministering. I remember saying to my wife, as I looked on the computer to see where Rodney’s ministry was located, “I don’t know why but I keep thinking of Rodney Howard-Browne.”
THE PROPHECY - TED SHUTTLESWORTH At the end of October 2005 we had Evangelist Ted Shuttlesworth from West Virginia, come to Bethel for a few nights of Holy Spirit meetings. I knew of Ted back in my Bible College days, when I would follow Ted’s ministry around the New England area as a young man. I loved his passion and unorthodox way of ministering with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This was Ted’s second time coming to Bethel. In the first service, on October 30th, Ted stood up and said, “I have a prophetic word for this church. And it is unusual in that the Lord gave me this word for your church before I came to your city.” Ted went on to explain that while he had given many prophetic words for people and churches while ministering in a service, this was the first time that the Lord had given Ted a word for a church a few weeks prior to the meetings. That night, Ted began to prophesy about a great anointing that was coming to Bethel. He said “there is going to come some building and some remodelling, and some expansion.” I remember when Ted said this, I caught eyes with Doug Nixon, who was our Lead Elder. Our leadership team had just begun discussions about doing a major renovation and expansion of our current building, and had just put a renovation committee in place. Nothing had been said publicly and nothing had been said to Ted about
TED SHUTTLESWORTH this. He had my attention. Ted went on to prophesy that in this coming
revival “people would come from near and far…and wonderful miracles will take place” even to the point that “they will bring ambulances with the sick to this church…and the power of God will raise them up.” I had always been taught that when you receive a prophetic word, don’t judge it too quickly but just hold it, even when you have no idea how it could come to pass, and if it is of God, it will come to pass in ways you could not even imagine. The word Ted gave that October was very similar to a prophetic word he had given on his first time to Bethel on April 7th, 2004. He prophesied that night saying “set your faith for a move of My Spirit in Sarnia and become known as the church where Jesus moves in and I will cause people to come from the North and the South and the East and the West and a new wind of revival shall come.” He went on to say that this Revival that was coming would be “weeks upon weeks” and not based on any “special speaker but My Spirit shall move and the people will just come.” The next day, October 31st, I took Ted to Montana’s, a local restaurant in Sarnia, for lunch. We were reminiscing about my days at Zion, and about the service the night before. In the middle of our conversation I asked, “Hey do you know Rodney Howard-Browne?” “Yes” Ted answered, “we are close friends.” “Well I don’t know why but I keep thinking of him,” I replied. As we talked, within minutes, Ted’s cell phone rang. It was Rodney HowardBrowne. “Rodney” Ted exclaimed, “Your ears must be ringing. I’m in Canada with a Canadian Pastor and we were just talking about you!” As Ted and Rodney talked for a few minutes, I thought “This is either God or I am in an episode of The Twilight Zone!” Ted ended the call and said, “Rodney would like to meet you and he has invited you to come to his Winter Campmeeting in January in Tampa.” In the service that night, Ted told the entire congregation about
that phone conversation. After the service, the Elders of Bethel approached me and said, “Pastor, we feel you should go to Tampa and see what God has for you.” I have jokingly said since that it was an invitation I did not even need to pray about. Florida in January? Of course, this had to be God’s will for my life!
THE RIVER CHUCH IN TAMPA The 3rd week of January 2006, my family and I traveled to Florida to attend Winter Campmeeting at the River Church in Tampa. Although I was in the daily services under Rodney’s ministry, I did not ever meet him or have a conversation with him. He did pray for me, as he did for many others. I remember sitting in church on a Tuesday night after midnight, with approximately 600-
THE RIVER CHUCH IN TAMPA 800 other people, just sitting in the presence of God. We sat for over an hour with no singing or preaching or exhortation, we just sat there in the God’s presence. I remember thinking, “it is late and I should be wanting to go back to the hotel,” but nothing in me wanted to leave. We were in the presence of God, everyone wanted to stay and nothing needed to be done. God was there. I learned in those meetings to make room for the Holy Spirit, to not be in a rush or feel like I had to make something happen, but just let the Holy Spirit do what He wants to do. I also learned that every service can be different and to just flow in the direction the Spirit wants the service to go. On the final night, as I prepared to leave, I stopped by the product table and thought I should take something
home with me. That is when a woman approached me with $200 and a word “This is for the revival that is coming to your church!” And then two others followed. I have often thought about this woman. I would not recognize her today as we were strangers. I assume she would never know, this side of heaven, what was about to transpire in my church.
I would have to take a nap and sometimes experienced “the chills.” But I never felt overwhelmed with a desire to eat. I also know that a few others in our church did the full 21 day fast while others participated in various ways in fasting and prayer. There was certainly a growing spiritual desire for more of God in the church.
THE FAST
One day in the month of March, before the fast, I had a vision in prayer. In the vision, I saw our building filled with people. In fact the building was so full that there were people in our prayer room, on the platform, in our lobby and even down the hall and into our gymnasium. And I saw our altar covered with the bondages of the world; alcohol bottles, drugs, cigarettes, pornographic materials and other addictions, with people being set free by the power of God. I saw many First Nations people as well, they seemed to fill one section of our main auditorium and they were coming to be touched by the presence of God. I believed it was the Lord showing me something that was going to happen at Bethel.
When I got back to Bethel, on the 1st Sunday back from Florida, I shared with the church about my experience at the River Church, and about the words and money that was given to me. I sensed a real faith lift in the congregation when I shared these experiences along with the prophetic word that Ted shared back in October. I announced that we would set aside 21 days for prayer and fasting beginning on March 27th and ending on Easter Sunday April 16th. As Pastor and simply as a believer, I have always begun the year with days devoted to a special prayer emphasis and, to the best of my ability, a time of fasting. Every year I would ask the Lord to give me some sense as to how to start the year. Some years it was a full day of prayer, or a week, or various days. As we approached this announced fast (fasting in either a partial fast or certain foods) for the end of March, I remember saying to the Lord “God I am going to commit to 21 days of special times of prayer and I will do my best to fast throughout those days as best I can but I will not come under any condemnation if I feel I need to eat. I will just do it for You as You give me the grace to do it.” The most I had ever fasted before was about 2 1/2 days. I just could never get past 3 days without any food. But that year something special happened to me. God gave me a grace. It is the only explanation I have. I began with a commitment to just have juice and soup broth and would go as long as I had the grace to do it. Well, by God’s strength, I went the full 21 days with only water, juice and soup broth. The fast did have some affect on me physically, as many afternoons
REVA KASEY & THE GLORY OF GOD In the weeks leading up to the fast, we were having very anointed services and there was definitely something building in the spirit in the church. A few weeks before the fast, I felt in my spirit to invite a Kentucky
Reva Kasey
Revivalist Reva Kasey, to come and get us started in this 21 day church fast. Reva is a fiery preacher with a strong Kentucky drawl. I came to know Reva through mutual friends, Tom & Sid Renfro. Tom is a medical doctor from Virginia who was miraculously healed of an
aggressive deadly cancer. His story was featured on The 700 Club and when I saw it, I felt compelled to call him and through our conversation he came to Bethel and we became friends. I had Tom & Sid, along with Reva, speak at Bethel on the first weekend of December in 2005. Now I felt led by the Spirit, to invite Reva back to start our 21 day fast. For whatever reason, I felt to have 3 services to start the fast on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (March 27-29). When I called Reva, she said to me that there was no possible way she could change her schedule and come for those nights. I said, “Well I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to have you come. If something changes, you let me know and we will get you here.” I did not hear from her until Sunday night March 26th, the day before the start of the Fast. Reva later said: “That Sunday night I went to church and talked with my Pastor (Bob Rodgers, World Prayer Centre, Louisville, Kentucky) about this invitation from a church in Canada. He said to me, ‘You’ve got to go!’ I thought ‘No, you go!” (meaning Pastor Bob). “But as I left the church that night, God started dealing with me in such a supernatural way. I cried all the way home. My arms became heavy. It was the anointing. I decided right then, I’ve got to leave everything and get to Canada.” Reva called me around 10:30pm that Sunday night. We had her on a plane from Louisville the next day. Monday morning we sent out an email to the church
announcing that we were now having services on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. On Wednesday night March 29th, the 3rd day of our fast, the Glory came. I know no other words to use. I have never been in a service like that before or since. After a beautiful time of worship and then introducing Reva to come and speak, I went and sat down on the front row where I normally sit. But as I looked toward Reva, I saw a what looked like fog or a cloud low to the ground all around our front altar area. I turned to the people behind me and said, “Do you see that, it’s like a cloud or fog in here?” They replied that they too could see it. As I was saying this, Reva had asked everyone to take the Bibles and turn to Exodus 3:7,8, a verse about God hearing the cry of His people and how He had come down to deliver them. Then she said, “I see the Glory of God in this place like a cloud mist.” When she said that, I jumped up and said out loud: “I just said that! The Glory is here!” Reva began to cry and shake under the
anointing. People began to get out of their seats and come and kneel around the altar in that Glory cloud. Many people told me later that they too witnessed the Glory cloud. In fact, a couple of our Deacons left the service to investigate if something was on fire because they thought smoke was filling the Sanctuary. It is really hard to explain that service. I can only think that we experienced a little of what the people experienced in 2 Chronicles chapter 5 when the cloud of God’s Glory filled the Sanctuary so much so that the priest could no longer minister. (2 Chronicles 5:14) For me, this is the night the revival started. At some point in that service, the cloud dissipated. Reva and I met in
the back prayer room. I practically begged her to stay another night, and she wanted to but it was just not possible for her to do so. Something
significant had happened on that Wednesday night, March 29th, on the 3rd day of our fast. Reva wrote me later and said: “I’ll never, as long as I breathe, forget what God allowed me to see and feel that night. I’m humbled at His mercy and feel unworthy to have had such a lifechanging experience. To God be all the Glory.”
EASTER SUNDAY Word was starting to get around that something powerful was happening at Bethel. I continued through the fast that was ending on Easter Sunday. We had planned for some time to have Brian Warren be our Easter Sunday preacher. Brian
Brian Warren is a former Grey-Cup winning CFL professional football player and was the co-host of the Canadian Christian television show, 100 Huntley Street. We had a big free outreach breakfast that morning before the service where Brian shared his testimony and
then he was to be our preacher for both Sunday morning and evening services. That Sunday night was electric. The church was alive with anticipation and excitement. What was unusual about that Sunday night was that we had around 400 people in attendance (triple what we would normally run on a Sunday night). I was shocked when before the service, a bus pulled up to our church. It was a group of people who had come all the way from Toronto for our service. The bus was filled with precious Indian and Sri Lankan Canadians who had heard about what God was doing at Bethel, through a lady who attends our church, and they had decided to come all the way from Toronto to experience it. I remember that night at the altar time as all these precious Indians and Sri Lankans were lined up and all were being slain in the Spirit and touched by the Lord. We had already seen some wonderful miracles in weeks earlier. Harry Knight, an elder in our church, had been diagnosed with cancer. We had prayed for him and he was miraculously cured. I have a letter from his doctor confirming that “Harry does not appear to have any cancer at this time” after what they told him was “squamous cell carcinoma.” Another woman named Wendy had started coming to church the last few months but was struggling with life and was in a deep depression. She was healed by God and on April 20th her doctor removed her from all anti-depression medication. The doctor asked her what she had added to her life to make such a drastic difference, to which she replied “Jesus!” Wendy was also healed from a shoulder injury which had prevented her from raising her arm above her head.
TOM SCARRELLA I remember going home after the Easter Sunday evening service and thinking “God what am I supposed to do with this? I need your direction.” That night I received an email from Pastor Josh Pitka. Josh was a young
man in our city who was passionate about Jesus and had started a church a year before. I knew many people were cautious about Josh and not readily accepting him as a Pastor at his young age and blue-dyed hair. But I saw beyond that and I liked him and his zeal. In his email to me, he recommended an evangelist from Florida for me to check out named Tom Scarrella. I took a few minutes and went to his website and I liked what I was seeing. The message on his website was “we are
Tom Scarrela not interested in another meeting, we want revival.” He was talking my language. I ended up calling him the next day and we had a great conversation. He said to me, “Pastor, I am actually coming to Canada for meetings next weekend. If you want, I could do a some mid-week meetings with you unless that is too soon.” Well my adventurous side agreed to a meeting, but my cautious Pastoral side decided it would be just one night. I liked talking with Tom and hearing about his passion and ministry but I did not feel comfortable going beyond one night because I did not know him very well. So we agreed for the following Wednesday night, April 26th, for one night only. I do not remember the exact attendance that Wednesday night but I am estimating we had at least 200 people. I remember as we began worship, Tom asked me if he could invite the people to come out of the pews (we had pews back then)
and come around the front. I said yes and he said to the congregation “sometimes those pews are like prison bars, come out of your seat and make a move toward the things of God.” The people responded and a greater freedom came into the house, it was an encouragement we kept throughout the revival. Tom is a great communicator. I was always blessed by his preaching. As he finished his message, Tom began to move in the operation of the gifts of the Spirit and encouraged people to believe for miraculous healings. On that Wednesday night a woman was healed of scoliosis. Another lady was healed of pain in her back that caused her to walk with a limp. People responded very well to Tom’s ministry and it was obvious that God’s Spirit was in the meeting that night. I said to Tom during the ministry time at the end of the service, “Can you stay another night?” He replied he could. And so I ended the service by exhorting the people, “Get on your phones, email, (this was before Facebook & Twitter) and tell everyone we are having church again tomorrow night!” We ended up continuing with Tom on Thursday night and then again on Friday night. Friday night there were at least two significant miracles. First, a young boy (about 10 years of age) named Keith was in the service
Keith with his parents with his parents. They were part of another church in our city pastored by Bali Swarath. Keith wore very thick glasses and even with his glasses had limited vision. He was considered legally blind. But in that service, the power of God came on this young boy. Tom brought him onto the
platform, along with his parents, and Keith took off his glasses and read the names on the banners lining the walls of our church. “King of Kings” “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” “Lamb of God.” The church went crazy with shouts of praise! Then Steve, a man from our church, testified that he was deaf in one ear, but now he was hearing. We had him call his wife on his cell phone right in the service and talk to her using the ear that was once deaf. Tom ended up staying again for Saturday night and the crowds continued to grow.
“GO AGAIN ANOTHER NIGHT” After the Saturday night service, Tom told me that he had to go to a church in Barrie as he had a commitment there for the Sunday services. As I was preparing for the Sunday evening service that afternoon, I remember praying and asking God again: “What do I do? I need direction.” I felt the Lord say to me,“Go again Monday night… the hungry, the desperate, and the curious will come.” I said, “But Lord, who has church on Monday night? And I have no evangelist, no special speaker.” “Go again Monday night… the hungry, the desperate and the curious will come.” So that Sunday night, after another awesome service. I announced to the church: “Friends, God is moving and we must move with Him. We are going to have another service Monday night. I have no special guest. But I believe the Lord will be here.” People need to understand that there was no plan to have nightly services. I didn’t know from night to night what was going to happen. For the first few weeks, it was just decided in the service that night that we would meet again. I did not have any Bible college training for “What to do when a revival comes to your church.” I was like a surfer who caught a big wave and was just trying to ride that thing for all I could.
On that Monday night (now May 1st), we had about 150-200 people. Keith and his parents were there, along with Pastor Bali and around 30 students from the local Lighthouse Christian school where Keith was a student, along with his Principal, Tanya Richardson. Tanya, Pastor Bali, along with Keith and his parents came up and again shared the testimony of how God had healed him. Incidentally, Tanya took Keith’s glasses and put them in a frame on the wall of the school as a testimony of God’s miraculous power and it stayed there for a few years until the school eventually closed down.
NIGHTLY SERVICES That week we continued with nightly services. Each night the Presence of God was strong in the meetings. We continued to see God work mightily with signs and wonders. On Thursday, May 4th, a young girl was brought to us by her parents as she was having demonic dreams every night causing her to wake up in screams of terror. We prayed and the Lord set her free and baptized her in the Holy Spirit along with another 7 year old girl. Pastor Allen & Cheryl Roach, from the Gathering Place Church in London, Ontario, were in the service that night and wrote: “Many thanks for the opportunity to step into the river at Bethel. My
Pastors Al and Cheryl Roach wife and I feel very refreshed and have a new sense of empowerment for ministry. Our hearts witnessed to all that was ministered tonight!” Pastors Al and Cheryl and members of their church came down to Sarnia
from London dozens of times during the revival. God did a great work in their lives personally and in the members of their church. Pastor Al said to me a number of years later, “If it wasn’t for that revival, I do not
The Church God prvided “The GATHERING PLACE AND REVIVAL CENTER” know where we would be in ministry today. God really touched us in those services.” It would be a year after the revival, that Pastors Al and Cheryl came again to Bethel and asked us to pray for their church as they needed a permanent location. They had been meeting in a school and wanted their own building. They had found a old church that was up for sale but their offer was rejected for being too low. “We were miles apart” Pastor Al said. We prayed over them for God’s provision and they were slain in the Spirit. Immediately I asked the congregation, “Let us sow a faith seed for this church building they are believing for. Come and bring whatever cash you have and lay it on them.” As Pastor Al and Cheryl lay on the floor in the anointing, our church came and put cash on top of them. I will always remember them lying on the floor of our church with a mound of cash on their chests. It was that very week that the church that they were wanting called and said they would take their offer. A miracle! Friday night, May 5th was our 10th straight night of revival meetings. It was that night that a bus filled with people from Exeter came to the service. In that service the Pastor’s 9 year old son was powerfully touched by God’s Spirit. In fact, in that service over a dozen children were baptized
in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I will never forget that service. A group of young children, boys and girls, were at the altar and we had them come on the platform to be prayed for. As I prayed for the 5 or 6 boys (ages 6 & 7) they all fell down on the floor but it was very obvious that they were doing what they thought they were supposed to do from what they had seen from others. I remember seeing one boy crack open his one eye and gave a little nod to his friend as in “look at me.” But then suddenly I witnessed the Spirit come on these boys. The pretending was over. Suddenly they were overtaken and all began to intensely cry and shake under the power of God for several minutes as they were all baptized in the Holy Spirit. 8 people received salvation that night and we also prayed for 6 visiting Pastors to receive a fresh anointing.
FUND-RAISING CONCERT CANCELLED There was no pre-plan for nightly services. In fact, each night at some point I would make a decision and announce that we would have another service again the next night. “Get on your cell phones, get on email, let people know we are having church again tomorrow night.” As the week continued I was faced with two big decisions. I was scheduled to lead a team from my church on a missions trip to Uganda at the end of May and we had a planned a fundraising concert on Saturday, May 6th that would feature Joshua Seller, along with other musical guests. Joshua was a Christian young man who had become a celebrity in Sarnia area because of his performances on the hit TV show Canadian Idol. We had sold tickets for a Saturday concert with the proceeds going to help orphan kids in Uganda. I had a decision to make. Should I cancel a revival service or cancel the concert? I made two big decisions. First, I cancelled the concert. We were going for revival. We refunded all the purchased tickets and I decided that we would receive an offering
at the revival service and all the money received would go toward the Uganda ministry for orphan children. I remember that the offering from that Saturday night revival service was close to 4 times the amount we would have received through ticket sales for the concert. Second,
I made the decision that I would not go on the trip to Uganda. My first priority was as Pastor to Bethel Church and I could not leave for 3 weeks during such a special season in the life of our church. Our Bethel Elders agreed and the decision was made to send my sister, Tricia Gibb, who was on staff at Bethel as our children’s pastor. As well, Terry Burns, a local PAOC pastor from New Life Assembly in Petrolia, agreed to go in my place as part of the ministry in Uganda was in leading a Pastors’ conference. Because my flight ticket could not be transferred to another person, my ticket was postponed until the end of February 2007 when I did end up going to Uganda.
pressure to make things happen or keep things moving. I came to each service prepared as best I could, but was committed to follow the flow of the Spirit. And healing miracles continued to happen. In fact, I have never been in a season where healing miracles flowed so easily. That is not to say that everyone who came was healed, but so many were. The result of it was that many young people were being touched by God. As we continued every night, word was getting out. People were visiting from all over South Western Ontario as far as Toronto & Niagara Falls to the East, Collingwood & Sault Saint Marie to the North, and Lansing Michigan to the West. And miracles continued. Morgan was healed of scoliosis. Lorraine was healed of a back condition and no longer walked with a limp. Rob was healed of an inflamed knee. Glenda was healed of painful tendonitis. Diane from arthritis. Valerie was healed of 4th stage deterioration of the bones in her neck caused by osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. She was in severe pain and could not turn her head. Her chiropractor said she
MIRACLES IN MAY As we continued night after night, the Presence of God was faithful to come. Each night seemed to take on a different emphasis in worship and ministry. Some nights there was preaching, other nights there was none. I had lost the sense of any
would eventually be in a wheelchair. What a beautiful sight to see Valerie take off her neck brace and freely move her neck and head with no pain! Kyle was set free from a drug addiction. His school called his parents as they could not believe the instantaneous transformation. And then there was Brian. He wept as he asked for prayer to be delivered from a 8 litre-a-day addiction to Coca-cola. A month later he testified that since receiving prayer, he had not had one drink of pop. In the May 12th service, several notable miracles took place. A woman was present with her
husband who is a medical doctor. She was in much pain in her back and could not bend over. The power
of God came on her and she began to bend over numerous times. Her husband shared with the church that night how God had healed her. Pete also testified that night of having arthritis in his hands for over 5 years that caused him to not be able to make a fist or grip anything, which resulted in his loss of work. God healed him in the service and he repeatedly showed how he could make a fist and probably shook everyone’s hand that night with a firm grip. Also that service, Dylan Caron, a young boy was healed by the Lord in his heels. He could no longer run or walk properly due to chronic pain in his heels forcing him to walk all the time on the tips of his toes due to the pain. He was miraculously healed and in the service we had him run around the church building. A few weeks later, he competed at a school track and field event and won 7 first place ribbons. (Note: 10 years later Dylan is still running and is on school records as one of the fastest runners in Sarnia). A medical doctor from Sarnia who worked in the Sarnia General Hospital was having irregular heart beats and heart fluttering. He had an EKG done and it showed the irregularity. He was actually admitted into the Coronary Care Unit the week before the service. After being discharged he came to the service, but was still having heart fluttering. When I prayed for him, he was slain in the Spirit. He wrote me two weeks later and told me that when he hit the floor when he was slain in the Spirit, his heart came into rhythm. He waited two weeks to testify and tell me in his letter that he had no more
heart issues from that moment and that he had been healed. In his letter to me dated May 24th he wrote: “Whenever I saw healing in the past, I was skeptical. My scientific mind does not easily accept mind-overmatter issues. So I waited until this evening to write you…(to tell you) I am healed. No more heart fluttering. Praise God! Sincerely, Andrew Nashed, MD.” Sunday (Mother’s Day) night, May 14th, was our 19th straight revival service. The main floor of our Sanctuary was filled with our congregation and visitors who were coming from all over the area. In fact, 1st Baptist Church of Wallaceburg cancelled their Sunday night service to join us for revival that night. I remember walking from my office, through our church lobby to enter our Sanctuary to start the service and as I was passing through the lobby I looked toward the outside doors and there was an ambulance parked at our front door. Some may have called it a Medic Van but it had emergency lights on the top and the word Ambulance on the side. Suddenly I remembered the prophecy that Ted shared that “they will bring ambulances with the sick to this church.” I did not realize that someone could rent a medic van or ambulance to transfer them from one place to another. I actually remember 3 distinct occasions when ambulances were used to bring the sick to the revival. The altar was so full that night of people receiving prayer that we had people come onto the platform and we opened the prayer room to give space for prayer ministry. We even had people lined up in our lobby to receive prayer. I remember a Baptist minister from Petrolia being baptized in the Holy Spirit in our church lobby.
LETTER TO CITY CHURCHES Within the first couple of weeks of the revival, I sent a letter to local pastors that were part of the Sarnia Evangelical Fellowship, to the area Pentecostal churches, and to my own District Superintendent. In the letter I told them briefly about
what was happening at Bethel and my commitment to them. I told the area pastors that I would in no way encourage people to leave their church and begin to attend Bethel, that I would never promote Sunday morning as a revival service, and that I was available at any time if they had any issue, concern or question. I was very appreciative of the support I received from the local pastors. I never heard of any criticism of me or our church from any local pastor. In fact, Pastor Steve Jones from Temple Baptist and Pastor Scott Lewis of Bluewater Baptist attended some of the revival services and were always encouraging and supportive to me, along with others in the city which I really appreciated. One afternoon during the revival, local area Pastors came to a special prayer time at Bethel and we prayed for one another. During the revival, our young people were being touched by the Lord and a real excitement filled their hearts as they were witnessing, many for the first time, miracles taking place. Pastor Josh Pitka, in his zeal for evangelism, was very much a part of bringing many outside young people to the services. I remember having young people come into the service, never having been in a church before. Suddenly the power of God would touch them and they would fall out under the power of the Spirit with many speaking in tongues. After several minutes we would ask them if they were saved and they had no idea what we were asking them. We would then tell them about salvation and lead them in a sinner’s prayer. (Note: This may trouble some people’s theology but salvation is not in repeating a set prayer but in opening your life to the Spirit and having an experience with God. Not one ever said no to praying to ask Christ in their heart after experiencing the Spirit’s power.)
ST. CLAIR HIGH SCHOOL FAITH HEALER SENT HOME On Wednesday, May 31st, in the early afternoon, as I was preparing for that evening service (our 36th
consecutive nightly service), I received a call from a local high school principal. “Are you Reverend Gibb?” he asked. “Yes” I replied. “I have a problem” (I could tell by his voice he was not kidding). “I have 150 students outside my window in the school yard holding a healing service.” (Later reports suggest the number was between 50-100 students) He was not happy and was wanting my intervention. I do not think he was too pleased with my response of support for the “healing” meeting. Josh Pitka and a few students were approaching fellow students in the school yard and asking if they could pray for them. Before you know it, it attracted a large crowd. A lady named Joyce Nixon also called me that afternoon to tell me what she saw. She said that she and her husband were driving by St. Clair High School when she saw the group of young people. She said to her husband, “Look Don, it must be a fight.” But as they drove by they saw Josh and Kyle with their hands in the air praying to God for their friends. The principal decided to break up the crowd of students. He then asked Josh and other students from another school to leave the grounds. Then he decided to suspend one of the students named Kyle, who attended St. Clair High School. Kyle was brought to the revival by Josh Pitka. He was wonderfully saved and touched by the power of God! The transformation was in Kyle was huge. He had been doing drugs and was failing at school, skipping many classes. His parents told me that they were at a loss as to how to help him. But when Kyle was touched by the Lord, immediately his class attendance and marks improved dramatically even within three weeks. But now he was being suspended for praying. Two days later, on Friday June 2nd, our local newspaper, The Sarnia Observer, published two front page stories: “Faith Healer Sent Home” and “School Halls Buzz Over Faith Healing.” The paper quoted Kyle: “Three weeks ago, I became a born-again Christian and started
towards the end of June and did a story about Kyle and the revival. That report was also broadcast on The 700 Club in America and was literally shown around the world. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada also ran a very supportive story about the revival on their web page. Charisma magazine, the leading Christian Charismatic publication in going to the Sarnia Revival at Bethel Pentecostal Church every night. I started praying over the sick and healing them through God.” Suddenly this was the talk of the city. Local radio talk shows were discussing this and questioning whether a young man should be suspended for simply praying in school. It certainly created some controversy in the city and even in the church community as relationships with schools was temporarily negatively affected due to this incident. At our revival service that night (June 2nd) Pete, Kyle’s Dad, shared with the church the transformation in his son. Another couple from the Christian Reformed Church who were attending the revival meetings, named Mark and Carolyn, testified about how Kyle had prayed for their 5 year old son Levi who had suffered his whole life with severe digestive problems. Mark shared,“Since Kyle prayed with Levi 2 weeks ago, Levi has had no digestive problems and now he is eating everything, even things he has not been able to eat.” The principal came under a lot of pressure and lifted the suspension for Kyle. The next day, the front page headline was: “Faith Healer Back in Class.” I did not realize that other communities search for stories on a news service wire. Within a day I had received phone calls from papers as far as Surrey, British Columbia looking for a comment from Kyle and myself. In fact, on Sunday night, June 4th, Kyle and I were interviewed by a secular radio talk show from Winnipeg. Soon after this, I received a call from the Christian television program 100 Huntley Street, who actually came to Sarnia
America, also contacted us and sent a reporter. They published their story in the September 2006 edition of Charisma. I had an evangelist friend
contact me when he saw the story in Charisma magazine. “How did you get in Charisma? I’ve been trying for 10 years for them to do a story on my ministry.” “I never tried” I answered. “I don’t even know their number!” God has a way of promoting His revival! I did have concerns for Kyle in all of this. He was a teenager and less than 1 month a born-again Christian. I encouraged Huntley Street and others not to focus too much on Kyle as there were other young people who were also being used by God and I was afraid that Kyle would have difficulty with all the pressure and
spotlight that came on him. In fact, Kyle did later struggle, but there is no question that God’s hand was and continues to be on his life.
VISITORS CONTINUE TO COME I pulled up to the church around 5pm in the last week of June to get ready for the 7pm service. There was a car in the parking lot with a couple inside. I asked if I could help them. “We’re here for the revival service” they answered. “Where are you from?” I asked. “Wisconsin” they answered. Over the next 2 to 3 months we would see people come to the revival from 15 States & 7 Provinces. I began to ask people at the beginning of every revival service where they were visiting from. “New York” “Tennessee” “Kentucky” “Ohio.” One night a lady said, “Texas” . I responded “Oh are you here visiting family?” “No” she replied. “I flew here just for this revival.” 17 people came for 3 or 4 nights of Revival from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. We maintained a relationship with that church and the next two years a team of our young people went to Lloydminster to run their youth summer camps. I remember one night when 6 businessmen flew in their personal plane to our Sarnia airport from Chicago. The one man’s sister from Newfoundland had come to a revival service and had been healed. He came with his business friends to receive a touch from the Lord. I remember they arrived for the service, they told us that they had to leave before 10pm as our airport would be closed by 10pm. I remember praying for them at the altar and all 6 of them were ‘slain in the Spirit’ and lay under the anointing for some time. I remember looking at my watch and seeing it was 10:30pm. They did eventually leave the service and I never found out how they got home but I assume they did. Again I was reminded of the prophetic word Ted gave.
INVITE FROM THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH On Thursday, June 8th, I received an email from Pastor Marc who was the youth pastor from the 3 Christian Reformed churches in Sarnia. In the email he said: “I’m wondering if you’re able to help us out. I’ve heard many questions from our youth concerning what is going on at the revival. Questions from students regarding the legitimacy of miracles, the power of prayer, how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.” He went on to say “this is something we just have no idea what to do with. With all the questions, we’ve decided to have an information and question time for our students and parents on Thursday, June 15th at Living Hope (2nd Reformed) Church.” The email concluded by inviting me (from all 3 Pastors of CRC churches) to be a part of this evening to share about the revival and to answer any questions. So on Thursday, June 15th I missed my first revival service. Our 49th revival service since April 26th. I, along with Doug Nixon, went to the
2nd Christian Reformed Church and Ken Bombay (‘Mr. Pentecost’ for our PAOC fellowship, great camp speaker, and a family friend) came and filled in for me at Bethel. So many Christian Reformed young people were touched by the revival. I remember questions that night included: “Why do people fall down when you pray for them?” “Why isn’t everyone healed?” “What part does faith have to do with healing?” “What does it mean to be born-again?” At the end of that night a lead pastor of one of the Christian Reformed churches came to me and thanked
me for coming, and then he said, “I never thought I would see the day that a Pentecostal preacher would be in my Reform Church teaching our people about the Holy Spirit.” He went on to say, “But I think we need to talk about Him (Holy Spirit) more.”
MIRACLES CONTINUE IN THE SUMMER Miracles continued to happen in the summer months of June, July and August as we held nightly
meetings, taking only Monday nights off starting in June. On Thursday, June 8th a young woman, along with her husband and two friends, came to our church service invited by a friend. I was told in advance she was coming. She was Catholic and had never been in a Pentecostal church before. She and her husband were not able to conceive because the fertility doctor told her that the walls of her uterus were closed and she would require surgery to fix the problem. As she stepped into the prayer line, she was nervous as others were being touched by the Holy Spirit. I said to her with a smile,“Don’t be nervous. You do not have to fall down.” Then as I prayed for her I said “You are healed. You will give birth to a child within one year.” As I said it, I remember doubt raced in my mind. I felt that I shouldn’t have said it so strong. What if God didn’t heal her? What would that do to her faith? Maybe I should have softened my statement? But I didn’t say anything more. I just told her to let me know the results. On July 10th she wrote me: “I came to your church looking for a miracle. I went to see the same fertility specialist again and he cannot give me an explanation as to how the walls of my uterus have
opened and I am healed. He told me that there is no medical explanation as to how this has happened.” In the summer of 2007, her friend showed me a photo of her new baby. The prophetic word was true. On June 13th I received a report from the Hearing Instrument Specialist with the Sears Hearing Centre, on behalf of Clara, who was a member at Bethel. It read: “Today’s results indicate…a significant improvement in Clara’s hearing bilaterally. Our records indicate that Clara has had to wear a SUPER POWER behind-the-ear hearing aid since 2003. This type of hearing aid would be considered too powerful for her now.” Clara testified how she was now hearing perfectly without any hearing aids. She told the church she had called her son on the phone and spoke to him without any hearing aid, something she had not been able to do for a few years. In fact, without her hearing aids, she would not have even been able to hear her phone ring. Another testimony really touched me. On Friday, June 9th I received this email from Yvonne Anderson. “Jesus healed me on May 6th in the revival service. My son, Jim Keddy, died in Hong Kong in January 2005. (Note: Jim Keddy was a PAOC missionary to Hong Kong. His wife Sue is our current Women’s Ministries Director for Western Ontario district). One year to the day of Jim’s funeral I had a serious attack with severe chest pressure raising my blood pressure very very high. I was hospitalized two separate times and diagnosed with post trauma stress syndrome or as documented on 20/20 television program ‘broken heart syndrome.’ I suffered for three months and was on addictive medication. But Jesus healed me that night at the revival. I am no longer on any medication or suffer from any depression or panic attacks.” Every night was different in the revival. One night I started the meeting, exhorting the people,“Before we sing or do anything, let’s just welcome the Holy
Spirit.” Suddenly the Glory came. I sat down on the front row just soaking in the Presence of God. I sat there for close to 90 minutes. No one sang, shared, or exhorted. After 90 minutes or so I looked back and 200 people were still sitting there in the Presence of God. No one left. Another service, a real spirit of warring intercession came on the people. I remember the drummer just starting to play aggressively on the drums in the Spirit. This went on for a good 20 minutes or more. Suddenly it came up in my spirit, it is finished. And immediately when it did, the drummer stopped. To this day, I do not know what we were battling but something was broken. Only in heaven will we understand One day I received a phone call from Sid Roth, a Jewish American televangelist who has the television program “It’s Supernatural!” He called to say that he had heard of the revival and was coming up for a
Sid Roth couple nights for services. He arrived, right in the middle of summer, with two other men in his company. I remember how we prayed for them and the power of God came on them as they lay before the Lord in our Sanctuary. After a couple of nights, Sid stopped by to see me the next morning. He handed me his business card and said to me before he left, “Pastor, when this revival goes to the next level, call me. I am going to bring all my television equipment and feature it on my show.” After
Sid left, I sat at my desk, his card in my hand. Without meaning any disrespect whatsoever to Sid, I took his card and threw it in the garbage. I said out loud to the Lord, “God if you want Sid to come here and do a program on the revival, then you can tell him, but I am not calling him.”.
THE REVIVAL WAS SLOWING DOWN I could tell by the end of the summer that things were slowing down. We had now gone 20 weeks of nightly revival meetings. By the end of August, with Monday nights off, we had 116 Revival meetings since April 26th. I could feel the fatigue setting in, our visitors were becoming fewer, and the miracles were not as frequent. I know some of our people were at the service every night. One man, who lives 45 minutes away from Bethel would get in his truck every night as soon as he got home from work eating his supper in the truck as his wife drove them to the revival services. He told me years later that the revival of 2006 was the most significant moment in his spiritual walk with the Lord. I have to give so much credit to our worship leaders and teams, along with our Pastoral staff at Bethel. We never had one service where we did not have a worship team. I told them on a number of occasions,“You do not have to be here every night. If you need a night off, just let me know.” They responded,“But we want to be here!” Looking back, we all wonder how we did it; all those services. There is no question that God gave us a grace to continue. Allen Froese, a worship leader from Toronto, was also a big help in the Revival as he came a good number of times with a team to lead a service. I know Allen was personally touched in the revival. Allen has a tremendous gift in writing worship songs and his songs became anthems in the revival season.
Allen Froese I had never set out to see how many services we could have. I was just wanting all that God had for us. I decided to transition from nightly services to a special weekend once a month. A few people became upset with me. To them we had to become the next Brownsville (major revival that took place 1995-2000 in Pensacola, Florida) to be a real revival. I was just thankful for the season we had and was excited to see what God had in store for us next.
MIRACLES IN MARMARA As we were transitioning from nightly services to monthly special weekend meetings, I was invited to speak at the Pentecostal church in Marmara, Ontario on September 16th and 17th. In those services, I shared many stories about the revival and even showed the 100 Huntley Street video about the student (Kyle) suspended from school and of the revival. Two notable miracles took place in those meetings that I learned about some time later. First, I received a letter from Ruth Coens in the middle of October. She wrote: “In February 2006, I began to experience cardiac arrhythmias which were increasing in frequency and strength. In March, I was diagnosed as having both premature atrial (PAC) and premature ventricular (PVC) contractions, and was subsequently referred to a cardiologist at the Ottawa Heart Institute. An echocardiogram and nuclear perfusion test, along with
extensive blood work, confirmed that I had a significant “electrical problem” with my heart. The initial drug therapy proved to be ineffective. In fact, during September things began to worsen and it became a
I was healed. I went to the doctor and it was confirmed, all cancer gone!”. That couple was Gordon and Marlene Bjorgan. Gordon was one of the former Bible College Professors at Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (now Masters).
thousands of people singing with us.” Honestly, I was worried about him.” At that same time, I was at the front of the church as we were worshipping and singing the chorus
THE NIGHT THE ANGELS SANG
serious life-threatening situation. The last appointment I had with the cardiologist was on September 15th, 2006. I attended both evening services held at Marmara Pentecostal Church on September 16th and 17th. It was on September 17th that Pastor Tim Gibb laid hands on me and I received my healing. From that moment on, I have experienced only normal heart rhythm; I have not had any more PVC’s. They are completely gone! I was at the hospital on October 4th, during which no PVC’s or PAC’s were found after. Basically my heart has entire normal rhythm and pumping action, no medical intervention required. I have copies of both previous abnormal, along with the October 4th normal, ECG’s to happily share. I am not keeping my healing quiet; this is something to tell the world!” Second, in 2008 I was attending the General Conference of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada in Toronto. Before going to the first session, I went to have dinner at the local Swiss Chalet outside of the conference hall. The restaurant was quite busy and I was with my mother, waiting in line for a table. The couple in front of me turned to me and said, “You’re Tim Gibb.” The husband said, “You prayed for my wife in Marmara in 2006.” The wife said, “I was diagnosed with breast cancer. You prayed for me and for the first time in my life I was slain in the Spirit. As I lay on the floor, I felt heat go up and down the side of my chest and I knew
A young man named Jay, from Bluewater Baptist Church who came occasionally to Bethel, was killed in a car accident driving home on a wintery night from work on Sunday, November 19th. I attended the funeral the afternoon of November 22nd at Bluewater Baptist Church and then came to a revival service that night at Bethel. Mike DeGroot, a good friend of Jay’s, was also in
the service that night along with his wife Kristeen. The were both very upset and grieving over the loss of a dear friend. Kristeen said “when we came into the service that night the worship was still going. Unknown to me, Mike was talking with God about the sadness he was feeling about the loss of Jay. As Mike was praying, God gave him a vision of Jesus and Jay standing in Heaven. Jesus spoke to Mike and said ‘Now all of Heaven is going to sing aloud this next worship song.’ As the next song began to play Mike’s ears were opened to hear the amazing sound of thousands and thousands of people singing this worship song with Bethel church. In the middle of the song Mike leaned over to me and asked if I could hear that. I had NO idea what he was talking about. I said “hear what?” Mike said “the thousands and
by Chris Tomlin ‘How Great is Our God.’ Suddenly as I was standing there, it was like someone had pushed a button and I could hear thousands of voices loudly singing with the church. I can only use the words of the Apostle John when he said, “I heard behind me the voice of many waters.” It was such a powerful experience for me. Something I will remember for the rest of my life. After we finished singing, I shared with the congregation,“Friends I just had an amazing experience. I heard angels singing with us tonight as we sang ‘How Great is Our God’.” After the service, Mike came up to me and told me that he was praying and asking God for assurance that Jay was in heaven. He said, “As we were worshipping and singing ‘How Great is Our God’, I had a vision of Jay in heaven singing with thousands of others. And then Pastor Tim, you said that you heard it too, confirming what I saw and heard.” It truly was an experience Mike and I will never forget. Kristeen said “it was the confirmation that Mike needed that night in all he heard and saw in the vision.” I am so thankful to God for the season of revival that He blessed Bethel Pentecostal Church in Sarnia with. It is a season I will never forget. Some of the greatest services I have ever been in was in those meetings. I am also thankful that the spirit of revival has never left Bethel after all these years. It may not be like it was
in 2006, but our church continues to be a church that is distinguished by a heart for the Presence of God. While I will be forever grateful for the 2006 revival season, I do not look back. I am filled with anticipation of what God has in store for us. In fact, we called 2006 a revival, and in many ways it was, but what I believe is coming is even greater. I believe 2006 was the first-fruits revival of what is yet to come! My prayer continues to be this song that was written by Allen Froese right after leading worship in one of our revival services.
LET REVIVAL FIRE FALL Fan into flame the fire of our first love Let us remain passionate for You Touch us again with power from You God We can’t contain our longings for You Lord You hear when we call
Verse 2: You made us one joined by Your Sprit Our sins are gone through Your blood Most High Lord You have won the battle forever Satan is done condemned for all time All You are we desire
Chorus: Let revival fire fall Let revival touch us all Holy Spirit You are welcome here Let revival sweep this land Let revival blaze again Holy Spirit be forever near
Bridge: Let the blind eyes see, let the deaf ears hear Let the dead ones live again Set the captives free, mend the broken hearts Let Your Word spread on the earth Š 2006 Allen Froese
REPORT FROM THE EVANGELICAL FELLOWSHIP OF CANADA WEBSITE JUNE 2006
REVIVAL HAS VISITED A SARNIA, ONTARIO CHURCH SINCE MARCH, 2006
In January 2006 Tim Gibb, the lead pastor at Bethel Pentecostal Church in Sarnia, Ontario, attended “campmeeting” services in Florida at Rodney Howard-Browne’s church. “I didn’t really make myself known,” said Gibb. “In one of the services he called me out and prayed for me. I don’t think he necessarily knew who I was. I really felt a deposit in my spirit and a blessing from the Lord.” Something else unusual happened at the book table. “Within about fifteen minutes, I had three people come up to me. In total, they gave me over $400.” The donors told Gibb the money was for buying materials to sow into the upcoming revival. These people had no idea who Gibb was, or where he was from. A couple months later, Bethel Pentecostal Church held its annual 21-day fast ending on Easter Sunday. Pastor Tim marks the revival’s beginning as three days into the fast. Evangelist Reva Kasey was guest speaker on Wednesday night, March 29th. The Kentucky resident said she had rearranged her schedule to be because God had spoken to her in the middle of the night. As soon as she announced her text in Exodus, a cloud of God’s manifest presence appeared in the church service, and many saw it. Since the revival began, there have been one or more salvations almost every night. Not a night has gone
by without someone being healed or delivered. The church had been accustomed to Sunday morning attendance of 460, and an average Wednesday night attendance of only a dozen. Since the revival began attendance has never been less than 100. The highest figure so far is 500. More than 400 attended on Easter Sunday evening—a significant increase from a typical Sunday night gathering of 170. As word of the revival spreads, people are arriving from all parts of Ontario, and Michigan. A pastor from Ohio heard of the outpouring and made the four-hour trip to experience this move of God.
TESTIMONIES JAW HEALED Rebecca from St. Clair High School had two wisdom teeth removed. There was complication during the surgery and the procedure lasted more than two hours. Two days after the surgery she couldn’t open her mouth more than one centimeter. At lunch break, students gathered off school property to pray for healing. She attended, and as she received prayer, testified that she felt as though she couldn’t stand up. She fell under the power of God and when she stood up, all the pain was gone and she could use her mouth fully.
HEARING RESTORED On June 9, 2006 Mr. Keith Watson, hearing instrument specialist with
the Sears Hearing Centre, sent a letter to the church office on behalf of, and with the permission of his client Clara, who is a member of Bethel. Two weeks ago Clara, who needed a hearing aid to hear testified of being healed. This specialist’s letter confirms her healing. The letter reads: Today’s results indicate … a significant improvement in Clara’s hearing bilaterally. Our records indicate that Clara has had to wear a super power behind-the-ear hearing aid since 2003. This type of hearing aid would be considered too powerful for her now … she now has the option to use a custom fit in-the-ear style hearing aid if she so chooses.
MOBILITY RESTORED Doctors told Denise that she only had eight months to live because of a tumor that had paralyzed her left side. She can now move her left arm, which she couldn’t do before prayer, and is believing God for a complete healing.
STRONGHOLD BROKEN
At the beginning of June Candice, a 17-year-old girl had a broken hand. Some of the youth who were attending revival services went to her high school and were praying for healing for students at the school. Candice was healed through their prayers and went to church on a Thursday night to check it out. At church God convicted her of sin in
her life and she dedicated her life to Christ. The next day (Friday) at school a friend complained of pain in his ear, and she prayed for him. The power of God touched the young man and healed his ear. On Saturday Candice joined an outreach team in Canatara Park to share her faith. That night as a result of the Word of God she had heard preached, she went home and filled two garbage bags with drug paraphernalia, alcohol, clothes, posters, and other things that she believed were strongholds in her life. She has completely turned her life around, has been set free from bondage and is stepping out in power and authority for the cause of Christ.
BREAK THROUGH On May 27, 2006 Madeline came for prayer. Her mother who lives in Toronto has been trying to rent a building she owns. Madeline called her mom and said, “Mom if Tom Scarrella prays for you and the building is rented will you sow a seed into his ministry?” The mother agreed. On Saturday night Madeline came for prayer asking that her mother’s store would be rented out. That same night Tom spoke a prophetic word about Perez, which means “breakthrough.” The next morning Madeline called her mom, and her mother reported that a gentleman had called and asked if he could rent the building. His name is Perez.
at her school prayed for her in class and she was completely healed. No more effects from the concussion!
DIGESTION HEALED Mark from Sarnia testified that his five-year-old son Levi had a digestive disorder. Among other things, Levi couldn’t eat gluten, sugar, wheat and lactose. He had been on a very limited diet his whole life, and even the little he could eat caused him pain in his stomach. A youth who attends the revival services, but is a member of a Christian Reformed Church in Sarnia, prayed for Levi and he was healed. He now eats everything with little or no pain in the stomach.
AWAKENED A visitor to the revival services writes: I want to praise God for what He is doing in my life. I am a minister’s daughter and have been going to church all my life. I have taken my kids to church so they know what a great God we have. That being said, I can honestly say [that up until now] I have gone through the motions of church and Christianity but have never experienced the joy and the longing to have a real relationship with God.
CONCUSSION HEALED
I have been coming to [Bethel] since your first message on “hope,” but I was still holding back. The further we got into the revival, the hungrier I got [for God], but I felt very, very unworthy. Pastor Tim kept saying what a shame it would be if anyone from Bethel would miss out on what [God] was doing … .
Judy, a teacher at a local Christian school had severe hearing problems due to a concussion she had suffered. She had very acute hearing, making everything too loud. She received prayer for healing at a revival service, and all the pain left, but she still suffered some of the effects of the concussion. The kindergarten class
On Mothers Day I had such a strong feeling that I needed to go to the Sunday night service. [When I went], God touched me and for the first time ever I was “slain in the Spirit.” What an awesome feeling! I came back for more on the Thursday night. God touched me again, and filled me with the Holy Spirit. For the first time in my life I can say I
can’t wait to get to heaven to meet my heavenly Father. I have such a hunger for more and more [of God]. Whatever God wants to give me, I want it. Now I walk around and drive my car under the influence of God and it is the best feeling ever. God has truly healed my soul and I praise Him for it.
BACK HEALED A medical doctor’s wife couldn’t bend down without back pain. In the revival service the power of God came on her, and she testified to feeling warmth in her back. In front of witnesses, without pain, she bent over numerous times. Her husband confirmed her condition and testified that she had indeed been healed.
WORD OF PROPHECY BY TED SHUTTLESWORTH APRIL 7, 2004 I prophesy to you that there shall be a move of God among the First Nations and upon the Reserves across this Nation. For the Lord says I will come onto them by My Spirit and ye shall hear of it and it shall cause a great wondering and some will say,”How come we didn’t receive what they are receiving”. But the Lord shall cause it to create a hunger in those that may feel that they got left out, but you’re not left out for the Lord says whosoever shall call on My name shall be free and shall be delivered. So set your faith for a move of My Spirit in Sarnia and the region round about and become known as the church where Jesus moves in & I will cause the people to come from the North & the South & the East & the West & a new wind of Revival shall come during this time of breakthrough therefore I set it in your midst but guard it with your hearts and if you walk humbly before Me and walk circumspectly, I shall cause the Spirit of increase to come upon everyone of you and Revival shall be birthed & a breaking forth shall come & the breakthrough shall be yours. And I prophesy to you that there shall be longer meetings come back into the church & it shall not be one night or two nights but it shall be weeks upon weeks of God just using men and women. For some there shall be no special speaker but My Spirit shall move, sayest the Lord & the people shall just come. There will even be times that people will show up no one has invited but you will find that much of the church has come on the same night at the same
time because they are hungry for the moving of My spirit & when I touch them, the people shall respond. So set your faith to the moving of My spirit & a fresh wind that is blowing in this Nation shall be a portion of this church for there is a price that was paid that this might be here. There were those that prayed and fasted that this place might be here and I the Lord God set it here and placed it here as a sign and as a wonder to this community therefore let Me work my signs and wonders again and I shall cause the community to turn to Christ. For the word declares, “many believed on His name when they saw the miracles which He did”. This is what I desire to do to show My power and I look for a people who will allow Me to move in My glory, this is the word of the Lord. Halleluiah
OCTOBER 30, 2005 Let’s pray…Father, I thank you for the sure Word of the Lord tonight. I’ve not come here because I am looking for a place to preach but I am here because Lord, You spoke to me plainly to accept the invitation of our Dear Pastor and to come, and a few weeks ago as I was preparing, You spoke to me that on this first night that we are here, what I am about to do, and that is to challenge the people of Bethel, at this time of a crossroads. A plan from God is coming, to build a strong work and a lighthouse in this region of Ontario. The light shall spill over even across the border and people shall come from far and from near and there
shall be a great ingathering and wonderful miracles shall take place. In Jesus name we thank You for it and we Praise God for it. There is a generational shift that’s going on in our world. You can see it politically in the United States, the President there is the son of a man that was a President, he is the younger generation. In the Middle East, in Syria for example, the President of Syria’s father was the king, but his father passed away and now the son rules. The same is true in Jordan. The Father passed away and his son now sits upon the throne in that nation. Even in Canada, there is a generational shift that is going on and things are changing. Whenever God changes anything, He never changes anything for the worse, but He always changes it for the better. Change is never bad when God is in it and so God will never change anybody for the worse, but anything He does for you will always make you better and stronger and more powerful. There is a hand of God that is upon this church and you that are visiting, we are so glad you are here, but for a moment, let me encourage the people that go here because my assignment tonight is to speak to Bethel for a moment, that God is getting ready to promote this church and to cause a great anointing that will bring growth and strength like never before.
Prayers have gone up and now the word that God gave me for this church is this, that God spoke to me that you have come to a crossroads and there needs to be a lighthouse if you will of deliverance. A place where people can know that if I go there, God will touch me there, if I go there, I will always be welcomed there. If I go there I will experience the presence and the power of God there. If I go there, there will be a place where I can pray and where God will talk to me and I can talk to God, and so I believe this, that in Canada in this moment, Canada’s finest hour is been birthed by the Spirit of God but as God is going to begin to bring in thousands upon thousands of souls. The Bible says that God says our fruit has to remain, it can’t be wasted, the harvest can’t be left in the fields to rot but we have to build barns that are big enough and strong enough to hold the harvest of souls. I prophecy to you that this church is on the verge of a soul winning harvest like never before and that God is working now to prepare you for the souls of men and the souls of women, but it’s going to be a time of building. We are going to need every older man and every older woman to be like David and begin to prepare before your death a legacy for the next generation. We are going to need every young man and every young woman to have a tender heart and a heart towards God, that the anointing can flow out of your life to bless thousands of souls. My life has always been a little unusual anyhow and I have lived a supernatural life, but one of the things I’ve learned is that God wants a plan to be made to reach the lost and I tell you that three weeks ago, when I was praying and the Lord spoke to me about you people that are here tonight and about this church that God has a plan to use
you to win thousands of souls. I haven’t talked to your Pastor, I don’t know anything that’s in his heart, but I’m just telling you Pastor Gibb, you probably already have heard from God, it’s time to build. Ecclesiastes says there is a time to build and there’s going to come some building and there’s going to come some remodeling, there’s going to come some expansion and there is some things that the Lord wants you to do, because we are preparing to bring in the final harvest of the lost souls and I tell you that there is an anointing that is not only in Sarnia, it’s all over this nation and God’s getting ready to shake it and when He shakes it, the sinners are going to fall out of every crack and every crevice because, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” but God is up to something right now. For did not God say in the last days, saith God, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh”, you mean to tell me that the devil isn’t nervous. I tell you he knows what Jesus said, “I’m going to build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”. That’s why we are seeing some of the things we are seeing, but let the devil’s rage and let hell yell, are you listening to me. Let Satan be nervous, but God is raising up a people that are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. I tell you, God’s going to use you and God is going to anoint you this night and there is a plan that God has for this people. One of the things I’m going to tell you about this next move is that it’s going to be loud, in fact you might have to change sound men because I’ve found some sound men they are in the turning down business instead of the turning up business. But it’s going to be loud because it’s going to be joyful. People are going to be filled with joy; you are going to hear praises and shouts unto God. I see it in my spirit, you watch, I prophecy to you, they will bring ambulances with
the sick to this church and they’ll bring the bed’s and the stretcher’s in and they’ll bring them to the altar and the power of God will raise them up. I’m telling you, God’s getting ready to do it. I’m telling you, there’s going to be a joy that will come up in your heart as God delivers your family and as God delivers your loved ones because He is the same God today as He is always been, Hallelujah, and what God did 2000 years ago, He’s still doing tonight and every night and every day. Oh Hallelujah. And so we are living in the finest hour. The day of the outpouring of the Spirit of God. Hallelujah!! A Woman took her Bible, gathered little children here in Sarnia and taught them under a tree and a man said “Let me buy you a house” for you can teach the children in that house, and then over the process of time, God brought in many men and women anointed to raise up what is now this house of God. God’s not done raising things up. He’s still has His hand on this place. So I prophecy, and I speak to you as a people, you’ve come to a crossroads for the deliverance of this town and this region, this province and that God’s hand is on you for His glory and “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that buildeth”.
TED SHUTTLESWORTH