Who was the Strict Baptist who prophesied?

No, it's not a question from Charismatic Trivial Pursuit.

I was having a clear out on Monday and discovered some notes from a Randy Clark talk c.1996. He said some very interesting things. One was that in 1954 a Strict Baptist pastor had prophesied 20 years of God restoring grace to the church, 20 years of God restoring New Testament church life and then 20 years of revival.

Has anyone else heard of this prophecy? Anyone know who this brother is?

Thursday Thoughts

I wondered what you'd make of this clip from a David Wilkerson sermon. A couple of people have sent it to me. Love to hear your thoughts.

Duncan Campbell

I was having a clear out recently and came across a biography of Duncan Campbell, the leader of the revival on the Isle of Lewis in the mid-twentieth century. It's a fascinating read and there are a few surprises here and there.

Even in this short biography one feels something of the sense of God this man reputedly carried. The book is out of print, but the Wiki article will give you a flavour of Campbell's life and impact.

You can find some of his sermons on MP3 here .

Pulled and Pushed

Last week was spent at Elim's annual conference in Prestatyn, North Wales, hence the silence from Outthere in the blogosphere.

Elim's annual bash in the land of song combines conducting charity business with some first class ministry from experienced and capable speakers.

One of the discussions in the business sessions revolved around how we should celebrate the hundredth anniversary of our birth in 2015. Our interaction generated some ideas that I think have some mileage. It will be interesting to see what emerges as our vehicles of celebration for our centenary.

What will the world look like in 2015 anyway? Will all the options of celebrating such anniversaries still be open to the church in 2015? Will we be battling for survival in the face of sustained persecution? Or riding a wave of revival and seeing the nation come back to God? Or, paradoxically, will it be a strange amalgam of both?

One of the things worth remembering is that the Pentecostal fathers and mothers didn't set out to invent pentecostalism. They set out to rediscover the dynamism of early Christianity, a dynamism that pulled them closer to God and pushed them into mission. If Elim is still experiencing the pull and the push in 2015 we'll have much to celebrate, whatever the social and political conditions.

What's out there

Holidays put an end to blogging for a couple of weeks.

I've still managed to keep up - to some extent - with what's being posted on blogs and websites elsewhere.

I guess the Lakeland / Todd Bentley saga is the big news in the Pentecostal / Charismatic world. Whatever you thought of Lakeland, I hope you would agree that for it to end in this way is tragic and impacts us all.

You can read the statement from Fresh Fire Ministries at http://www.freshfire.ca/?Id=1065&pid=8

J. Lee Grady also comments at http://fireinmybones.com/index.php?col=081308~Life%20After%20Lakeland:%20Sorting%20Out%20the%20Confusion

For something more encouraging check out Steve Addisons two part interview with Andrew Evans on the remarkable growth of Australian Assemblies of God (now Australian Christian Churches):

http://www.steveaddison.net/2008/08/19/andrew-evans-on-the-rise-and-rise-of-the-australian-assemblies-of-god.html

http://www.steveaddison.net/2008/08/21/andrew-evans-part-2.html

Enough for now.

I'll post later on a debate held at the Edinburgh Festival between Christopher Hitchens (leading atheist) and John Lennox, Christian apologist. I know you can't wait.