Showing posts with label Brownsville revival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brownsville revival. Show all posts

Thursday, August 20, 2015

How 18 Years at 'Charisma' Shaped My Life - J. Lee Grady

How 18 Years at 'Charisma' Shaped My Life


Former Charisma editor Lee Grady (l) with presidential candidate George W. Bush in August 2000.
Former Charisma editor Lee Grady (l) with presidential candidate George W. Bush in August 2000. (Photo courtesy of J. Lee Grady)
When I joined the Charisma team in 1992, cell phones looked like bricks and the Internet didn't exist. No texting, no Google and no email. If I needed to research a topic for a story, I had to call a library on a landline phone, or—can you imagine?—actually go to the library and look up stuff.
The digital revolution hadn't started yet, so I was oblivious to what I was missing. All I knew was that I was happy to serve on the staff of the largest charismatic Christian magazine in the world. I stayed there for 18 years until I stepped into full-time ministry in 2010. Since Charisma is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month, I thought I would chime in with my own cherished memories.
1. Most spiritual moment. It's one thing for a smart-aleck journalist to report on a spiritual revival; it's another thing for that journalist to be spiritually wrecked by the experience. I went to Pensacola, Florida, in 1995 to write about the Brownsville Revival. I ended up on the floor of that church at least three times. I was overcome by the Holy Spirit's presence in those historic meetings, which were led by evangelist Steve Hill. (He became a friend until he died last year.) On that carpet inside Brownsville Assembly of God, the Lord dealt with a deep cynicism I was holding in my heart. Something holy was imparted to me in those meetings that prepared me for ministry.
2. Favorite interview. In August 2000 I received an urgent call informing me that Charisma could have an interview with Texas governor George W. Bush. I flew to Austin, boarded Bush's campaign plane and flew to Maine. About mid-flight, I was invited to the front of the plane to interview our future president for 30 minutes. I wasn't nervous because Bush was his down-to-earth, folksy self—and our conversation about his faith made me feel I was with a brother in Christ. Before the interview ended I gave him a Scripture from Psalms and he wrote it down. I hope it gave him some comfort after the media and a majority of Americans turned against him years later.
3. Most sobering interview. When I traveled to North Carolina in 1996 to do a cover story on fallen TV evangelist Jim Bakker, I didn't go to rub his nose in the mess he'd made of his PTL empire. I could tell the guy was repentant the moment we met. He didn't sound like the cocky talk show host who bilked donors so he could buy gold-plated faucets for his mansion. The Jim Bakker I met was grieved over the mistakes he'd made. We ate dinner at his favorite low-priced Chinese restaurant next door to a K-mart. He told me sincerely: "I was wrong in so many ways, that it took five years of prison for God to deal with me."
4. Most meaningful part of my job: What blessed me the most about my 18 years at Charisma was the interaction I had with African-American, Hispanic and immigrant leaders in the body of Christ. In spite of the racism that still exists in our country, I learned that the Holy Spirit wants to build bridges, not walls, in the church. In 1994 I witnessed black and white Pentecostal leaders washing each other's feet in what came to be known as the Memphis Miracle. And during my subsequent years as editor I ate meals with black leaders, including G.E. Patterson, Charles Blake and C.D. Owens. They shaped my spiritual DNA. Building interracial ministry is a core value for me today.
5. Most life-shaping experience. At Charisma I was exposed to powerful female preachers, including Fuchsia Picket, Alice Smith, E.C. Reems, June Evans, Barbara Amos, Beth Moore, Sharon Daugherty and Cindy Jacobs. Yet we often received angry letters from readers who objected to our articles about women in the pulpit. Those letters sent me on a journey to discover what God thinks about the spiritual callings of women—and the result was my first book, 10 Lies the Church Tells Women. Today I have dedicated my life to helping release women into ministry.
6. Favorite article of my career. In 1997 I wrote an investigative feature about so-called Oneness Pentecostals—the people who insist on baptizing in Jesus' name only. I wrote it partly out of fascination, but mostly because I had a genuine burden to see the Holy Spirit heal what has been a century-old rift in the church. The initial reaction to "The Other Pentecostals" was overwhelming—we received more letters about that article than any other during my tenure at the magazine. I still get comments about it 18 years later from ministers who say it affected them.
7. Most awkward interview. I will never forget sitting down on the Trinity Broadcasting Network set in California in 1998 to talk with Jan Crouch, wife of the late TBN founder Paul Crouch. There she was, with her trademark pink wig and false eyelashes, talking to me about how she was kicked out of Bible college in the 1950s because she didn't obey all the rules of Pentecostal decorum. She called the professors who disciplined her "Sanhedrin"—and then reminded me that she didn't like Charisma because we wrote about church scandals. She was as eccentric in real life as on camera, but I appreciated her honesty—especially when she told me: "God didn't call Paul and I because we are good or because of our skills. He chose two of the most foolish, untalented people."
8. All-time favorite issue. In 1998 I sent four reporters to the streets for a special evangelism issue. One interviewed hard-core bikers in Daytona Beach. One spent a few days on the streets with punk rockers in Chicago. Another spoke with gang-bangers in a risky neighborhood in Atlanta. And I went to San Francisco's Polk Street district to talk to men living in the city's gay underworld. I never felt more fulfilled when an issue of Charisma came off the press. We broke journalistic ground with that issue and called our readers to care about lost people instead of judging them.
9. Least favorite part of the job: No job is perfect, and what I hated most about being the editor of Charisma was dealing with some of our "problem" advertisements. Editors usually have a love/hate relationship with ads: We need the money ads generate, but some ads are just plain ugly, and others are embarrassing. I normally didn't see ads until the day before the magazine shipped out, and there was often a "miracle diet" ad promising a cure, or a conference guaranteeing personal prophecies, or a charlatan charging $1,000 to be his spiritual son. I tried my best to screen those ads—and the current staff of Charisma continues to be watchful. Please forgive us if we let one slip though. This job is not easy.
10. Saddest part of the job: It felt wonderful to write articles about spiritual revivals and missionary breakthroughs, but there's an ugly side to being a Christian journalist. I had to write about the scandals. And there were plenty on my watch, starting with the sordid reports of sexual abuse at Earl Paulk's Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Atlanta in 1993. People often asked, "Why do you have to cover the scandals?" My response was always the same: We are providing accountability to a movement that has very few checks and balances. It isn't fun to write about respected Christian leaders who fall into sin, go to jail, extort money or start teaching heresy. But when I saw the failures I didn't become disillusioned. Through all the ups and downs of the charismatic movement, through all the glorious victories and embarrassing scandals, I have learned that Jesus is faithful and that the Holy Spirit is still working in the church in spite of our weakness.
J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter @leegrady. His next book, Set My Heart on Fire, will be released next year by Charisma House. You can learn more about his ministry, The Mordecai Project, atthemordecaiproject.org.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Steve Hill Passes Away After Miraculous Life

Steve Hill Passes Away After Miraculous Life

Perhaps best known as the evangelist for the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Fla., Evangelist and Pastor Steve Hill went home to be with the Lord on Sunday.
“Today, March 9 Steve crossed the finish line. Steve lived every day with eternity in view, today he finally saw it with his own eyes. The Church has lost a general in the faith, heaven has gained a saint,” reads a post on his Facebook ministry page. “Please remember Jeri, Ryan, Shelby, Kelsey and the family in your prayers.”
Hill passed on to glory after a long battle with Melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer and the leading cause of death from skin disease.
“A great warrior has fallen,” says Billy Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University. “One of the great evangelists of our generation is standing in God's presence today. My heart grieves for us, yet, my heart rejoices for Steve—he has made it. I have lost a friend, a cheerleader and a fellow laborer in Christ. We love you Steve.”
Fueled by his own dramatic deliverance from drugs, alcohol and crime in 1975, Hill dedicated his life to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. His passion to help those who are hurting and his pursuit of genuine, God-breathed revival continued to intensify after years of missionary work, church planting, and evangelistic crusades.
From 1995 to 2000, Hill served as the evangelist of the Brownsville Revival. The meetings drew over 4 million from more than 150 nations through the doors of the Brownsville Assembly of God Church.
During the five-year revival, hundreds of thousands wept at the altars, repented of sinful lifestyles, and gave their lives to Jesus. Lives were dramatically changed, marriages were restored, and addictions were broken as the gospel of Jesus Christ was presented with clarity. After Brownsville, Hill and his evangelistic team continued to hold arena and stadium crusades around the world.
Hill also founded and served as senior pastor, along with is wife Jeri, of Heartland World Ministries Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Hill founded Heartland School of Ministry, a soul-winning, presence-driven ministry school, as well as ProdigalsOnly.com, a website that encourages people to come back to God.
“A mighty warrior is fallen, earth is the better for his life and the poorer for his passing,” writes John Jeffs on Hill’s Facebook page. “May the Lord raise up a 100 like him, that many may know of the greatness of ‘Go.’ Our hearts go to his family at this time of sorrow. Heaven rejoices as the Earthly battle ended the heavenly praise begins. Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Steve Hill: The Problem With Tumbleweed Believers


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Steve Hill: The Problem With 

Tumbleweed Believers


STEVE HIll
Last week, hundreds of thousands of tumbleweeds blew into Clovis, N.M., but didn’t blow back out. This small town was buried under an avalanche of tumbleweeds. Residents had to call 911 for help getting out of their homes. The problem was so big, the National Guard was called in to help battle the tumbleweed invasion. (If you haven’t seen this, click here and prepare to be astonished.)

Having spent several years in Texas, I know a little about these pesky plants. A tumbleweed is an unattractive, troublesome bush that rolls around, having snapped loose from its roots. It’s simply tossed about by the wind.
Paul referred to believers that behave like tumbleweeds in Ephesians 4:14 when he said, “We henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (KJV).
I continually meet believers who are "tossed about to and fro," and that concerns me because so often these dear people end up spiritually shipwrecked. Let me share with you a few thoughts about "tumbleweed believers."
1. Tumbleweed believers have not allowed their roots to sink deep into the truth.
There is nothing on Planet Earth that gets blown around more than a tumbleweed. Just a little wind, and off it goes. But these pesky plants don’t start out this way. When growing, a tumbleweed is firmly planted in the soil. But at the end of its growth season, it breaks loose, never to be planted again.
Spiritually speaking, this is what happens to many believers. They encounter a difficult test or trial, and suddenly they stop growing. My friend, you should never stop growing in the Lord! If you do, it’s just a matter of time before you begin to tumble in your Christian walk.
The reason Paul was so adamant that believers be established in the truth is because false doctrine was sweeping through the church, causing many to fall away. It’s no different today. False doctrine will blow you off course and leave you hundreds of miles from where you want to be spiritually. Becoming firmly grounded in God’s Word is one of the primary ways to ensure that you stay on course and remain spiritually strong and healthy.
2. Tumbleweed believers begin to roam when confronted.
Over the years, I have seen people who refuse to deal with their sin. In fact, a lot of pastors are afraid to talk about sin from their pulpits. Some even refuse to use the word. Why? Because people will pack up their marbles and leave if confronted.
My friend, we need to speak about backsliding and the devastating consequences of sin. These things will destroy you. However, those who don’t want to hear the truth will get offended, and off they go like a tumbleweed.
3. Tumbleweed believers blown by the wind are helpless to decide their own route.
Tumbleweed believers can’t decide where to go. They are in and out, this way then that way, totally at the mercy of the wind. They go whichever way it happens to be blowing today.
Believers who find themselves at a loss of direction need only look back to where they disconnected themselves from the kingdom. 
Are you spending time in His Word? This is important to keep you rooted in His truth! His word is a “lamp unto [your] feet, and a light unto [your] path” (Ps. 119:105).
Are you listening to the Holy Spirit? God sent the Spirit to teach, comfort and correct us. You should welcome His activity in your life and not run from it, for when He has come into your life, “he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
Are you connected to a body of believers? So many are in the habit of forsaking the assembly of the saints. They say, “I don’t need the church to make it to heaven.” But friend, you need the church to make it here on earth. 
This is precisely what Paul is saying in Ephesians 4. Christ gave us the church and the fivefold ministry gifts “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man” (Eph. 4:12-13, NKJV).
Feeling tossed around in the world? Get reconnected to His Word, the Spirit, and the body.
4. Tumbleweed believers spread their unwanted seeds at random.
One of the reasons farmers hate tumbleweeds is because each one has about 250,000 seeds that can grow in a wide range of temperatures. Imagine that. As a tumbleweed blows across the land, it scatters a quarter of a million seeds that potentially become tumbleweeds. So all year long, farmers have to put up with this nuisance.
How many tumbleweed believers do you suppose we have in America, rolling around the landscape of Christianity, spreading bad seed?
I can’t tell you how many unhealthy, anemic, cancerous individuals have come across my path attempting to scatter their bad seed in the garden of my life. Someone hurt them, so they want to plant that bad seed in my soil. They are bitter about an event that took place, and they want me to accept that seed of bitterness. The list goes on and on. Let’s not allow these seeds to take root. Shake off everything that happened in the past, settle in, and begin to grow again.
My friend, let us determine to allow our roots to grow deep in Christ. Know what you believe, and don’t let anything or anyone blow you off course. When you are confronted by an attack from the enemy, resist him. When temptation comes your way, stand strong. Let’s be believers who are deeply rooted, continually growing, and ever producing fruit for the kingdom.
Evangelist Steve Hill preached the Brownsville Revival for five years, is pastor emeritus of Heartland World Ministries Church and has authored 13 books, including Spiritual Avalanche. He can be reached at www.stevehill.org.
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