JOY AND HOLINESS
A quiet American Gulf Coast city, Pensacola, has seen a remarkable move of God's Holy Spirit over the past eighteen months, with over 50,000 decisions for Christ and people queuing for hours for the services
John Kilpatrick had been pastor of the Brownsville Assembly of God Church in Pensacola, Florida for thirteen years. The Church had built a spacious new auditorium for 2,800 people, but the atmosphere was very conservative and the fire of God was lacking in the congregation. Kilpatrick was physically and emotionally weary.
With a searching but guarded heart, his wife went to visit the Toronto Airport Church Fellowship, to experience first hand what the Holy Spirit has been doing there since 1994. When she was prayed over, she likened the experience to a Bunsen burner passing over her head and heart, cleansing her thoughts and attitudes. She felt completely changed inside, and on her return to Florida she began to laugh and weep under the Holy Spirit's touch.
On 17th June 1995 Kilpatrick invited an evangelist friend, Steve Hill, to take the morning service. Hill had seven years' experience of the revival in Argentina, so was equipped to cope with the unexpected events that were to follow. When he gave the altar call, a thousand people spontaneously came forward!
As Hill and others prayed over them, some fell to the ground, others wept and began to shake violently as the Holy Spirit moved upon them. Then Hill turned to Pastor Kilpatrick and prayed for more of God's anointing on him. The pastor fell to the ground and lay there for four hours! When he recovered, he told of feeling a strong wind blowing through the building, then of a sensation like the river of God washing over the calves of his legs - at which point he fell to the ground - and finally of a heavenly glory resting upon him like a heavy blanket.
This was the beginning of a reviving move of God in the church and locality. From the outset the meetings carried a power of joy and refreshing in the presence of God. Many felt rejuvenated, fired up for God's new work, and healed of much baggage from the past. For the first two weeks of the revival, John Kilpatrick was so weak from the Holy Spirit's dealings that he had to be wheeled home in a wheelchair every night and laid out on the bed!
Soon after the revival wave broke, a 19-year-old student, a lifelong member of the church, was strongly moved to make a public confession of her lukewarmness and compromised living. As she spoke, she began to tremble violently, and passionately pleaded for others to follow her example. She then fell to the floor, and a deafening chorus of groaning and wailing filled the auditorium as God's conviction of sin settled on everyone. This in turn gave way to a burning desire for the salvation of lost souls. These events were captured on video film which has since been shown in other local churches - with similar results.
Repentance, rededication of lives to Christ, receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and bringing God's love and mercy to the lost - such have been the hallmarks of the revival. Pastor Kilpatrick is quick to stress that they are not interested in selfish blessing-seeking and what he calls 'charismatic hoopla'. Joy is certainly there, with hundreds dancing round the building; but there is also a strong sense of holiness, so much so that regularly people take off their shoes, feeling they are on holy ground. There have been powerful healings, and visions too.
One 11-year-old girl was 'lost' in a trance for 20 minutes, then spoke of having watched a huge dove with wings of fire hovering over the congregation.
In the meetings the pastor is at times hardly able to stand and has to have several men hold him upright as he preaches. Yet the theme is always God's holiness and honour, and the need to be truly reconciled to Him. As a result, as many as 100 people every day either find salvation or rededicate their lives to Christ.
Word travels fast, and very quickly people began arriving from far and near to seek God in the Pensacola assembly. The media have given wide coverage to the events, and with almost universal positivity. The 7pm meetings are held five times a week, and queues start forming around 3.3Opm. Sometimes they go on until 3am the next morning!
At the time of writing, over one million people have attended the services, and over 50,000 decisions for Christ have been recorded. The converts are from all social groups: young and old, rich and poor, punks and students, witches and nightclub dancers.
These are then put on to various local churches, by no means all Pentecostal. Baptist, Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic churches have all been involved in the revival, and have shown considerable growth.
Source: Pensacola Outpouring in Joy magazine December 1996; and news update bulletins downloaded from the Internet.
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