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Do it again, Lord!!!
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Posted by: JeriRose12
Sleepless in Seattle: Redigging the Wells of Revival in the Pacific Northwest
There are signs that the Holy Spirit is melting frozen hearts in the nation’s most unchurched region.
Last week I made a pilgrimage of sorts, to an altar where the fire of charismatic revival once burned brightly.
I knelt inside St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, a nondescript wooden chapel in Seattle where veteran charismatic pioneer Dennis Bennett introduced thousands of people to salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the 1960s and 1970s. During that era, from 1960 to 1980, St. Luke’s was a hub of spiritual vitality—a place where as many as 1,000 people a year met God in profound ways.
“An unprecedented number of churches in the state of Washington participated in 31 days of around-the-clock prayer during the month of May.”
St. Luke’s was like the Brownsville Assembly of God of the 1960s.
“This is what some people still call the ‘hot spot,’” said the Rev. John Roddam, 51, current rector of the church. He directed me to kneel on the carpet near a communion rail, then turned on a tape recorder and began to pray and prophesy over me.
St. Luke’s is not a fancy building. In fact, it has been called a “spiritual manger” because—like Christ’s crude crib in Bethlehem—it is a humble place. Yet I felt so overwhelmed to be there that I wept.
After our prayer time, Roddam showed me upstairs to a small prayer room that Dennis Bennett used as an office during his time at the parish. It was while Bennett and his second wife, Rita, labored in Seattle that their books Nine O’Clock in the Morning and The Holy Spirit and You introduced millions of people (including me at age 18) to a deeper experience with the Holy Spirit. It was also from St. Luke’s that Bennett helped charismatic leaders address significant issues, including the shepherding movement—a heresy that almost snuffed out the charismatic renewal.
Bennett died in 1991, and every rector that has occupied the pulpit there has been a charismatic, including Roddam—who is a Canadian citizen. But the fires of renewal at St. Luke’s have become smoldering embers, and the crowds are gone. The church has dwindled to about 100 members, but they still sing lively charismatic choruses and celebrate the gifts of the Spirit. In the 350-seat sanctuary, colorful banners announce “Come O Holy Spirit” and “Healing and Blessing.”
What is most tragic about St. Luke’s is the crisis facing the Episcopal Church, to which the small parish still belongs. The denomination has gone through a spiritual metamorphosis that would surely make Bennett roll over in his grave.
The national church voted to ordain a gay bishop three years ago. In the Seattle diocese, one of the most liberal in the nation, the dean of the cathedral has a live-in gay lover. In a very real sense Baal worship has replaced the worship of Christ. The truth of God has been replaced with a lie.
Roddam and his small flock face a spiritual battle of epic proportions. Yet he feels called, at this time, to stay in the Episcopal system in order to be a witness of the full gospel.
“We have a mandate to redig the wells of revival here,” Roddam says with confidence. “We are in a tough but also a wonderful situation.”
The ancient patriarchs of the Bible often had to redig their wells because their enemies stopped them up with garbage. We certainly face that situation in the Pacific Northwest today, where outbreaks of revival have been squelched and a large percentage of the population is unchurched. And we won’t see revival until brave warriors like Roddam challenge the Philistines and clean out the defiled wells.
Roddam is not the only warrior praying for revival in Seattle. One regional prayer leader, Tim Taylor, told me last week that an unprecedented number of churches participated in 31 days of around-the-clock prayer during the month of May, leading up to the Global Day of Prayer on June 4. The event was called Operation Rolling Thunder 2006. A similar event last year was followed by an unusual series of thunderstorms that covered the state.
Taylor says the storms were a dramatic signal from God that He had heard their prayers. “Our goal is to cover the state of Washington with 24-hour prayer,” Taylor says. “We expect the total, spiritual transformation of this region.”
When I knelt at that altar inside St. Luke’s, my prayer was a simple one: “Lord, do it again.” As we pray, let’s focus our attention not on the work of the enemy but on the power of our God, who wants to shake our nation again with the thunder of His presence.
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Posted by: JeriRose12
Standing in agreement. Yes, Lord, do it again!!!