Recently Verna Linzey, a “daughter” of the Azusa Street Revival, was ministering in the Los Angeles Mission in Torrance when revival unexpectedly broke out with ecstatic utterances, prophecy, shaking and salvations, and this has continued at that mission.

This weekend Linzey, author of The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, was invited to the Azusa Street Revival Commemoration called "Honoring the Holy Spirit for the Past and Seeking God for the Future," an event coordinated by the Rev. Fred Berry. This event took place on Friday in the sanctuary at Union Church, which is on the back side of the square block shared by Azusa Street.

Linzey was invited to greet the audience since the Holy Spirit had recently ignited the revival at the Los Angeles Mission in Torrance through Verna Linzey. When she greeted the audience she gave this word from the Lord: "The Holy Spirit is working mightily in Los Angeles and we have begun to see greater manifestations of revival in the Los Angeles basin. We are honoring the Holy Spirit for the past and seeking God for the future. What we are seeking is now happening. So let us pray that the flames of revival that have been ignited in the Los Angeles basin recently sweep across Los Angeles and the world once again."

I was on an airplane between Louisville, Ky., and Dallas, trying to relax between speaking engagements, in the first week of October 2006. As I looked at the Arkansas countryside below, an inward voice suddenly spoke to me: “I am about to shake this nation.”

Within weeks the shaking began. My phone rang on a Thursday morning in November. A serious media firestorm was erupting at a church in Colorado, and one of my dear pastor friends was at the center of the controversy.

The church I have pastored for 25 years (Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, La.) had helped plant that church 21 years earlier, and I had served as an overseer from the beginning. I knew I had to respond immediately. Within hours I found myself in an office in Colorado, surrounded by media and confused church members.

The recent chaos in Egypt has the raised eyebrows of most of us. President Mohammed Mursi’s decision to grant himself sweeping powers and place himself above the courts has triggered sweeping negative reactions.

Mursi’s grab for power has left Egypt destabilized; some have been killed and many wounded. His new nickname is “The Pharaoh President,” after the manner in which the Pharaohs claimed they were the incarnation of the ancient Egyptian gods.

I don’t know Mursi’s motives for desiring absolute authority. He may be but a pawn in a larger plot, having been coerced by his advisors so that the Egypt would shift its alignment from being a U.S. ally to a U.S. enemy. He may have even caught the Pharaoh spirit of believing his own press to the point of dictatorship.

On Wednesday Christians United for Israel (CUFI) reached 1 million “likes” on Facebook. That makes CUFI the most “liked” U.S. based pro-Israel Facebook page.

“As the recent conflict in Gaza proved, social media has emerged as the most dynamic new front in the battle for public opinion. As this milestone shows, CUFI is leading the charge for Israel on social media. And we've only just begun,” said CUFI executive director David Brog.

In addition to having crossed this important threshold, CUFI’s Facebook users are among the most active on the social networking site; CUFI is the 31st most talked about page in the nonprofit category.

I can still remember prophecy teachers who tacked rows of charts and diagrams on the church wall and explained spell-binding details of the past, present and future. I cut my spiritual teeth on the Scofield Bible and devoured Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth. My seminary professors instructed me in pre-tribulationism and premillenialism. I quickly categorized anyone who disagreed as a “liberal.”

Now I look back on those days with a strange combination of regret and amusement. How is it that I was so wrong for so long? As I analyze my change, I can sum it up by admitting that I simply did not understand the kingdom of God.

Let me explain what I mean by starting with the Great Commission. The Great Commission has been central to my life. I committed myself to missions the night I was saved when I was 19. I spent my first 16 years of ministry as a field missionary and the next 30 as a professor of missions.

It's almost 2013! Many great things happened during 2012, and even though we faced hardships and trials, which are to be expected in life, we survived and even laughed a lot more than we had in previous years. How can we smile, have joy, and even get excited when we are faced with so much evil and darkness? Well, let's look at a few things before we travel together to the mountain in Israel and hear the Word of the Lord on Dec. 31.

If you aspire to ministry, don’t be stupid. Decide now to avoid these obvious pitfalls.

I had the privilege of sharing a pulpit with Dr. Mary Ann Brown two times. She was bold, prophetic and painfully blunt. People who hate women preachers hated her even more because of her no-nonsense sermons—always delivered in her Texas twang. She would get her audience laughing and then skewer them with a hot blade of truth.

When this spiritual giant died last month at age 73, I remembered the last words she said to me when we were together at a conference in Chicago in 2011. After lamenting the fact that so many ministers in the United States were failing, Mary Ann locked eyes with me and said with stern, motherly authority: “Lee, please don’t ever get stupid.”

I knew exactly what she meant—and I’ve pondered her words often, especially since her death. I don’t want to be stupid; I want to finish well. So how can we avoid spiritual stupidity? We can start by avoiding these 10 mistakes that have become common in our movement during the past decade. If you are a minister, or if you aspire to be one, please decide now that you will never copy these behaviors.

God loves us enough to make our path straight, but it is so much better to get on the right path first.

We are all living in a fast-paced, hard driven, “make it happen” world. I have operated in this world for most of my life outside of a Kingdom worldview, even as a Christ follower. By the grace of God, the Lord took me out of the Matrix several years ago and I was able to see the world’s systems for what they were, the good, the bad, and the ugly within them.

Through continued trials and errors, Father firmly establishes my faith and my view in Him alone. I desire to see what He sees, hear the sound of His voice, and love and serve by the power of His Spirit within me.

As I travel, I see common patterns that limit the effectiveness of Gods people as being the salt, light, and love in the world as His Kingdom ambassadors. If we do not pause, reflect and hear correctly, we will often look back and say, “Wow, so much time has passed and very little of what we had intended to do ever got in motion.” We may realize that a long period of time has gone by, sometimes years, where we have been stuck in unfruitful patterns in our minds, hearts, and in our ways.  

Check out some links below to recent stories from Charisma News that you'll find interesting and informative. You can also sign up to receive stories on your smart phone by signing up for the free Charisma News app by clicking here.

• Elementary School Sensors 'God' in Student's Veteran's Day Poem
• Islamist Group Boko Haram Accused of Slitting 10 Christians' Throats
• Will Gay Marriage Be the New Norm by 2023?
• Prison Minister: Lindsay Lohan Needs Faith-Based Regeneration
• Evangelist, Pioneer Mary Ellen Strong Passes at 91

Have you ever wondered what is happening to churches today? Many have lost their sense of purpose, floundering for identity, in a sea of hundreds of other churches competing for the same people. Approximately 80 percent of “church growth” numbers can be attributed to people transferring from one church to another rather than new converts. As many as 3,000-4,000 churches close their doors every year—unable to stay open due to financial burdens, infrastructural turmoil and apathy.

In this discouraging environment, day in and day out, pastors and church leaders toil for the kingdom of God. Often overworked, underpaid and unappreciated, they deny themselves the luxury of time for rest and spiritual renewal. Is it any wonder that more than 1,500 pastors leave their churches every month due to spiritual burn-out, moral failure or contention within their congregation?

A miracle lifestyle begins in God’s presence

For decades, maybe centuries, the church has gathered weekly around a sermon. Our reasons are noble: We value the Scriptures and know that our lives are to be anchored in truth. But the study of the Scriptures is meant to launch us into an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ.

In that moment of connection, we obtain life. Without encountering the One to whom Scriptures point, we are a people to be pitied. As Jesus told the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).

Nearly every leader wants revival in one way or another, and many want healings, deliverances and miracles. But it’s hard to have the same fruit as the early church when we value a book they didn’t have above the Holy Spirit they did have.

I’m sure most Ministry Today readers are very aware that year-end giving campaigns are perhaps the most important fund-raising time for non-profit organizations. With 41 percent of all donations occurring in the last few weeks of December, the year-end campaign is a make or break proposition for many churches and most non-profits.

While you are crafting your year-end campaign I wanted to make sure you didn’t neglect the fastest growing way to connect with new givers—your online presence.

First, lets examine the facts. According to Charity Navigator’s survey, 93 percent of those surveyed said they gave during the 2010 year-end giving season. Of those who donated in 2010, 91 percent said they planned to give during the same period in 2011.

Check out some links below to recent stories from Charisma News that you'll find interesting and informative. You can also sign up to receive stories on your smart phone by signing up for the free app Charisma News by clicking here.

Abortionists Offer 'Black Friday' Discounts in Demonic Marketing Scheme
Abortion Victims Share Stories of Healing in New Reality TV Series
Good Grief! Atheist Group Disgruntled With 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'
Does Paraguay's 12-Year Prayer Marathon Indicate Revival?
Christian Actor: 'Two and a Half Men' Is Filth

Note: This story was retrieved from Ministry Today's archives and was published in Ministry Today Magazine in 2004.

Meet three pastors who left their churches to hit the books.

They are among a growing number of Pentecostals and charismatics pursuing higher education ... and a higher calling.

At 53, Bob Proy hit the books ... again. A former pastor with more than 20 years of ministry experience, Proy has spent the last several years in classrooms, furthering his education.

He recently earned masters' degrees in communication, and marriage and family counseling from Oral Roberts University (ORU). Now, he is devoting his doctoral studies at ORU to establishing an after-care program for inmates and their families.

Proy envisions establishing rehabilitation centers outside urban areas where ex-convicts and their families can be discipled while adjusting to post-prison life. And he says higher education is the spark that lit his vision for the future.

Note: The following is an excerpt from the book Lead and Succeed by Sara. J. Moulton Reger 

David was the second king in Israel, and he was a great warrior both before and during his reign asking. This story of his leadership in battle was recounted at the time of his death:

David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. And he said, “Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things were done by the three mighty men. (2 Samuel 23:14-17)

Check out some links below to recent stories from Charisma News that you'll find interesting and informative. You can also sign up to receive stories on your smart phone by signing up for the free app Charisma News by clicking here.

Mark Driscoll Compares Twilight Saga to Pornography
In Wake of Obama's Failures, Netanyahu Has Become Leader of Free World
Court: Hobby Lobby Must Violate Faith, Pay for Abortion Pills
Court Halts Aborton-Pill Mandate Against Bible Publisher
IHOPU Offers Statement About Off-Campus Murder

There is strength in numbers, but in the past election the numbers weren’t on the side of those who care about Christian values. The lack of unity in the church has caused us to lose ground in the fight to keep the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.

This election saw residents of Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, and Washington all vote their approval of same-sex marriage. Statistics suggest that even many self-identified Christians joined in this approval, while other believers either didn’t vote or chose to remain silent on the issue in the run-up to the ballots.

Where is the wisdom in all of this? If the Bible says that the “fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10), then it is clear that as a nation we have lost the fear of God.

What changes can you make to be more effective at making and releasing disciples?

Are we making disciples surrendered to Christ and His Lordship? Though very few concrete statistics on our overall effectiveness currently exist, it’s difficult to argue in the affirmative.

What then can we do to get better at the Great Commission? Based on his considerable experience with starting churches from disciple-making small groups, Real Life Ministries founder Jim Putman has identified five paradigm shifts church leaders can make to become better at accomplishing the mission of the church. We asked him and Dave Ferguson, who also leads the church-planting network NewThing, and Community Christian Church in Chicago, to help unpack each shift and its potential impact.

How to counsel married couples through bedroom problems.

Terry and Tami seemed like the perfect married couple. They were in their 30s, attractive and successful. They’d known Pastor Phil for several years and one day came to him for counseling. As soon as they all were seated behind closed doors, Tami blurted out: “Pastor—Terry and I aren’t having sex!” Pastor Phil’s mind reeled: Not this couple. No way, he thought.

His mind instantly raced back to his Bible-school training. He could not recall any lessons he might have had on “The Sexless Marriage.” In fact, he couldn’t remember ever counseling a couple who didn’t want sex. In the end, all he could say was: “Terry, Tami—you should fast and pray.”

The article you’re reading would have come in handy for Pastor Phil. Couples like Terry and Tami avoid sex for definite reasons. After counseling for almost 20 years, I know. Let’s look at some of these obstacles.

How to leave your denomination ... for all the right reasons.

A few years ago, my wife and I felt God calling us out of our denomination into another network of churches. Being in connected relationships with like-minded pastors and churches was important enough for us to navigate the choppy watters of change.

Some said, “Stay and be salt.” Yet, I sensed no call to take my “salt” there. (I know of a Spirit-filled priest whose calling in life is “to save as many as he can before they kick him out.”) Albeit humorous, note how he is certain of his call. I could not say the same. My “salt” had been trampled on, and others who stayed to be a prophetic voice discovered that they were ignored as well.

It ought to haunt us that no county in the country has grown one percentage point in the last 35 years with regard to the number of Christians. The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization released a report in 2005 forecasting that by 2050, in the Western world, the number of Christians will drop far below the population increase.