Audio

There's now a podcast for the Healing & Breakthrough meetings.

That talking that you're hearing right now is that podcast.

This digital audio is subscrib-able, download-able, generally listen-able - and hopefully enjoy-able. So when you come back to this site the latest episode of the podcast will begin to stream right before your very ears. It is pausable using the media player in the 'Podcast' section on the right-hand column.

You can, from the 'Podcast' section, click one of two links (or both if you're feeling completist) to subscribe to the podcast using the iTunes store, or download the latest episode from WildVoice.com. From WildVoice.com you'll also be able to subscribe to the RSS feed (another way of subscribing to the podcast) - which you can point your RSS reader at, like Google reader or something.

Hope that all of that makes sense to you. Please keep on sending your prayer requests and testimonies using the links on the right-hand column. And don't forget that the meetings will be held on Sunday evenings at Central Baptist Church throughout August.

The old ones are the best ones!

What is it about 'Light of the World'?
When it was first put out into the world as a song that Christians ought to be singing it caught the attention of everyone. It became this song that everyone, everywhere was singing - even in those churches that still grip a 'Mission Praise' today (which I personnaly love!)

Like 'My Jesus, My Saviour', 'Heart of Worship', and 'Shine, Jesus Shine' - 'Light of the World' has this uncanny habit of getting congregations belting things out at the top of their lungs! It's a simple song, with words that are often easy to sing and agree with. It's a great declamatory song - Jesus came down to earth and died for us! - It's truth all the way through. And when it gets sung these days it's not because it's the flavour of the month, and it isn't like it's being sung every week either. So when it was sung on Monday 21st it struck a chord - it resonated with heaven.

When the band finished playing the song and the instruments faded away, the congregation continued to sing - letting out their praises. Some continuing to use the chorus, others proclaiming God's goodness, mercy, love - others simply using tongues to praise God! This atmosphere of sound, of praise was thick with the presence of God (to my ears it sounded as though there were far more voices in the sound than merely the people gathered).

Donna Leppitt acknowledged the presence of God - it was not a presence we wanted to leave particularly quickly. It is, though, a presence that has been at all of these meetings - as people have been healed during the worship, as people have felt at ease to express their worship without any hint of self-consciousness.

It is a presence we need to press in to - to make ourselves aware of. Sometimes we get hot, or shiver, or shake, or just stand transfixed, or have compelling urge to get on the floor, or lift our hands. This isn't about that-bit-in-the-song-where-we-stick-our-arms-up - but it is about the BIT of the song where we stick our arms up! Not a conditioned response to the song - but rather that almost indescribable urge to physically react. That's God moving, it's God's presence - thick in the atmosphere. When the Israelites were out in the desert we read accounts of the presence of God falling so thick that people fell facedown, sometimes so thick that it was visible as a cloud.

Get used to knowing the presence of God in that way - and when it comes - press in!

These meetings have been about worship - in Spirit and Truth - about praising God Almighty with a cry that says, 'Your Kingdom come and Your will be done'.


As it is now the summer holiday season the Monday meetings will be stopping in Central Hall. During August outpouring and breakthrough meetings will be hosted by Bridge Christian Fellowship at Central Baptist on Devonshire Road - from 7:00pm on Sundays. The Monday nights at Central Hall will resume in September.


Also, keep your eyes on the blog as audio will soon be available from the meetings. These will include some of the talks and prayers from Monday nights. These will be available as a podcast - which you will be able to subscribe to through the iTunes store. More information will be available once the audio turns up......

Maintaining Perspective

Joel Edwards (General Director of the Evangelical Alliance) wrote an open letter (10/06/08) including some pointers and advice regarding the events in Florida. Since it has stirred such great debate it is necessary to maintain perspective rather than be side-tracked with details that tend to lead towards judgement and argument. These pointers may be useful to you:

Dear Colleagues in Christ,

I suspect that many of you have watched with interest the recent
developments in Lakeland, Florida. Unusual things have been taking place in
Todd Bentley’s church, and they now seem to be spreading to other parts of
the world, including the UK.

I’ve spoken to a number of our members who are overjoyed at what they
perceive to be the latest outpouring of God’s spirit. Others, though, have
expressed their concern at what is happening and particularly the kind of
appeals that have been made on TV and the Internet.

Inevitably, all of this reminds me of the struggles we all had at the
Alliance at the time of Toronto. And I simply don’t yet know how I feel
about all that is going on in Florida. There are aspects that make me
rejoice, and others that make me uneasy. However, at the time of Toronto, I
drew up the following list of principles that it seems to me have enduring
relevance. I share them again with you now so that together we can remain
united around our one common cause: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1. Evangelicals should make every effort to measure all spiritual phenomena
by Biblical criteria. In every case, the devotional hallmarks of holiness,
prayer and witness provide reliable indicators of authentic moves of God.

2. We also acknowledge that the current phenomenon is not new. During the
eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries revivals associated
with respected figures such as Jonathan Edwards, Wesley, Whitefield and the
Jeffreys were also characterised by unusual events which attracted
controversy and blessings.

3. We rejoice with those who testify to a deeper level of commitment and joy
as a result of their experience but would equally urge them to avoid
excessive behaviour which may discredit the Gospel or distance those who
genuinely seek an encounter with God.

4. Whilst we would caution against indiscriminate enthusiasm, we would
equally urge Evangelicals to avoid preclusive or condemnatory behaviour
which dismisses all unusual events out of hand.

5. Finally, we would advocate the Gamaliel principle; if the phenomenon is
genuinely of God it will certainly bear lasting fruit.

Evangelical Alliance Preliminary Statement on the Toronto Blessing (1994)

In addition, Jonathan Edwards’ reflections on the kind of tests we should
use in evaluating any apparent movement of God remain valuable.

Does it raise people’s estimation of Jesus Christ?

Does it operate against the interests of Satan?

Does it lead to a greater regard for Scripture and truth?

Does it result in a greater awareness of and seriousness about the things of
God?

Does it lead to a greater love for God, for other Christians and for the
wider world?

Finally, as Luke makes clear, the purpose of God pouring out his Spirit on
the day of Pentecost was not so much to give the disciples a wonderful
experience, but rather to empower them in mission. Whatever we make of
events in Florida, the most important thing is that we retain our focus on
our joint mission to reach this nation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Whatever else, let us keep that at the forefront of everything we do.

Every Blessing

Joel Edwards – General Director, Evangelical Alliance

Open Invitation

This Monday we have a special guest from Lakeland Vineyard, Florida; Kristina Collins, who is the founder and creative director of At His Feet Ministries. Kristina has been with Alun and Donna and the members of Bridge since Wednesday and they will testify to her anointing. The sheer energy and freedom that comes from her, the Fire, the Passion - it's engaging and enjoyable. An incredibly creative and expressive woman, she will be travelling to Neath this weekend, with Alun and the Bridge worship team to impart God's outpouring to the people - and then will join with us on Monday evening. Expect great things as God is surely with her.

A notice regarding the summer meetings: During August the healing and outpouring meetings will be moving back to Central Baptist Church and to Sunday evenings, from 7:00pm. God is doing amazing things with His church in Southampton - particularly evident is how the churches have come together and unified their worship - our petty differences mean nothing now. They never did, but for whatever reason they kept us apart - and God has had enough. So we'll continue to meet during the holidays and then on into September - when the meetings will return to Central Hall.

And in other news.....

It seems that if you do a search including the words, 'Lakeland', 'revival', 'healing',
you get the God TV site, Todd Bentley's site - and then a whole bunch of blogs and other such pages dismissing the whole thing as hype, demonic - well - anything other than God really.

The people that have written this stuff have really done some research, they've really poured over scripture; they've scrutinised every word spoken by Todd since he first started appearing in YouTube videos. They will begin their critique by mentioning the Toronto blessing through the Pensacola revival up to the present goings on in Lakeland. And it seems to be that many of these people have not been to any of these meetings, don't know Todd or any of his team personally and have watched all of the emerging coverage with a pre-determined will to scrutinise it.

And they are within their rights to do so - after all, we are urged to test what we hear from preachers and the like. However, be encouraged to get along to these meetings and see for yourselves - come with an open and expectant mind - unbelief, a will set against God - will invariably see you finding all the holes and problems and not engage with Heavenly Father

Here's an analogy that may help: Musicians... sometimes to hear them speak is like hearing some strange language. A classically trained orchestral player could describe the mellifluous melodies and rich textures employed by Debussy to evoke emotion, whereas a scientifically minded musician could explain why certain frequencies combined with others, at certain intervals, with specific timbral qualities can evoke the same emotions.

The terminology they use is different, their conclusion is the same - music can evoke emotion. Just ask any Damien Rice wannabe.

What's the point? - Mis-quoting someone and saying they're unbiblical isn't much help if you don't subscribe to their descriptive method. Todd Bentley refers to things like 'the third heaven' and to spiritual experience involving fire, and wind and bright lights and shaking. The concept of a third heaven, to some is now an obsolete term of phrase that, when the Bible was written, was based on the understanding that above the earth were crystaline spheres that held the sky above us, the stars above that, and somewhere outside of that, there was God. We know now that there aren't crystaline spheres. But Todd uses it to conjure an image in people's minds. His descriptions of his spiritual experiences may bear significant resemblance to alien abductions (as some have suggested) - but he is simply using the words he has to explain them - it's a type of language that would vary from person to person.

You may have read this far and be wondering why all this stuff has been written. Simply this, the outpouring of God's glory in Lakeland is being handled in a certain way - this method annoys people, seemingly as much as it draws them in. The outpouring of God's glory here in Southampton is also being handled a certain way. In no way is it a case of the Lakeland outpouring in Southampton. It IS the Southampton outpouring. Specific to the city - all from the same God.

This is clear from the meetings we've been having. As I'm sure anyone who has been, there is an atmosphere of the presence of God during the meetings, and a palpable presence of change in the city, and it doesn't look like the Lakeland meetings.

These Southampton meetings have drawn together churches from across the city - in massive numbers - this simply didn't happen two months ago. But, as was shared at last Monday's meeting by Chris Davis - this stuff - all of this brilliant stuff that is going on has got to get out on to the streets. It has to start impacting the city, lives changed. A few weeks ago the Life Church crew were out spreading the gospel in Palmerston Park. People were healed, people were saved. We all have that responsibility - if we truly want to steward this outpouring, this great time of blessing and healing, into a full-scale revival - then we need to be prepared to say 'YES' to God - and run with it - get out there and tell people.

So, there concludes this rather lengthy post (which should make up for the rather silent couple of weeks); and with that conclusion there is simply this: Invite anyone and everyone to these meetings. Bring the unchurched, the lost and the broken, but also bring your skeptics and synics - urge them to come and see for themselves rather than basing their opinion on what they read on the internet. (which, hopefully, doesn't discount this post!)

Blessings and Peace to you all!