Revolutionaries Needed

No doubt you have heard of Shackleton’s famous newspaper advertisement in 1914. Lacking real resources and fearing the prospect of drawing a crew incapable of dealing with the cruel conditions that they were sure to face, his ad was as harsh and unforgiving as the journey was sure to be.

He wrote the following: “Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” 5,000 applications were received and just over 50 men were chosen for the adventure.

In that same spirit, we put out the call now for serious and hardcore believers to come and help us to define Gen-X ministry in these days that we live in. As most of you know, we have gone through a transition period over this last year for sure. Recently we discovered afresh the angst that only doing travel ministry brings on in us. I related how I was feeling in my last post.

During the last two weeks as we were on the road, we were approached by two churches in Wisconsin who want me to become their Pastor. To us, this came at the right time and in the right way and we have gladly accepted the offers.

The churches are small, less than 20 members a piece and in a rural area of Southwest Wisconsin. And while one is in a college town, it has never managed to impact either the school or the town that it is in. Both are more like fresh plants than anything else. They have small (one is tiny!) buildings and enough for a tiny (tiny!) salary for myself but not much else. But we see the hand of God at work and feel the push to start a revolution, right here and right now.

We are looking for people who are determined to make a difference in their lifetime. We can offer no salary until the churches grow. There will be no physical benefits such as life insurance or medical insurance for the immedite future. You will have to be bi-vocational and yet be zealous and totally focused on the work.

I am far from easy to serve with and that is putting it mildly. I am driven for the Lord and expect that if I run, you must run as well. I am focused on destroying the work of the devil and if you have heard me preach or been in our meetings, you know where I stand. Those who come to learn to minister will be given the hardest jobs and sacrifice the most. We will give our all to serve the church and to win the lost and no thanks are given or expected, we do it for Him and Him alone. But we make hardcore disciples that are prepared to smash the enemy and honor God at all costs. If you doubt your ability to sacrifice and serve, if you are unteachable and self-righteous, if you are not a servant or are divisive, don’t even bother because you won’t make it.

Now, if you are still interested, I am looking for a media minister who knows what they are doing and can work with sub-par gear and find deals for better gear, who can run audio-visual equipment and computer programs for multimedia and worship along with mixing CD’s of preaching and overseeing all areas of media ministry.

We are looking for musicians who are not headstrong and who can follow a leader and help to define the sound of the Lazarus Generation.

We are seeking a Worship leader who knows the old songs of Pentecost and some new ones as well and who can fit in with our vision and flow with the Spirit, the anointing is all-important here. We are a mix of Gen-X and old-time Pentecost and the music must reflect that.

I am looking for ushers and those wanting to be trained in ministry who are interested in reaching the lost and serving God with abandon. Our goal is to train and to send, planting new churches where there is a need. We are hard on those wishing to be ministers but I feel that if we weren’t, we wouldn’t really be preparing you.

We need children’s Pastors who are actually called to Pastor children and Youth workers who are interested in revolutionary ministry, not simply gaining experience so that they can be a “big people’s Pastor” someday.

I am also looking for an associate Pastor who can hold the line when I am on the road and serve with me when I am at home, in excellence and anointing.

Most everyone will also be involved in revivals and our travel ministry and will be a part of teams who will go all over this region and the US doing healing evangelism with us in tents and churches.

 

I desire to see my generation saved. I desire to restore the faith of my fathers and to see the church age of Gen-X become one that doesn’t need to be ashamed. I bully religion every chance I get and I pick fights with the devil. I have been known to employ controversial methods in the church such as Mixed Martial Arts in the men’s groups and will do so again here. If bucking the system bothers you, this probably isn’t your cup of tea.

If your heart is to belong to a cause greater than yourself, if you long to be a part of a group striving towards a common goal at all costs, if you can take up your cross and follow hard after God while running to the battle, please pray about joining us.

We are being led to create a Lazarus Generation Pentecostal Church that stands in direct contrast to the current state of the emerging church and lifts up a new standard for others to follow.

If you feel led to come and help, drop me an email (please go to the “about JC” TAB for my email address) and we can start to discuss it in earnest.

Who dares, wins.

JC Smith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those We Leave Behind

 I seem to be drawn to those that have been overlooked, marginalized or forgotten.

 I really, honestly, don’t care about the “boy’s club” I don’t care about TBN or Charisma. I don’t care about fitting in with your group, your dogma or your religious preferences.

 I do care about all of the things that the church seems to have forgotten about. Maybe a part of that is because the church has never been my church.

That is not to say that I am an “out-of-church Christian”, I am certainly not. I have always just happened to be someone constantly on the outside looking in.

 I can remember one time when I was a runaway in Phoenix, Arizona. I had just turned 16 years old and took the 300 dollar car that I had and left with my friend. To fund the trip, my friend stole a bunch of stuff from his step-father and we pawned it.

 When we got to Phoenix, we knew no one. We looked for the local scene there and didn’t find too much. By the second night, I had been pulled over and my car was impounded. Instead of taking us in for no insurance, no registration and vagrancy, we were dropped off by the cops on Van Buren Street at 1 am with no money and no vehicle. Big fun.

 We walked all night and in the afternoon found ourselves in a suburb on Thanksgiving Day. And almost 20 years later I can still vividly recall the feeling of standing on a curb in a pretty suburb, looking through the window at a family having Thanksgiving dinner when I had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat.

 I feel like that sometimes in regards to the church. That I am still standing on that sidewalk watching the people, knowing that their life is not my life.

I have always been drawn to the disenfranchised, dispossessed and disillusioned. And there are plenty of them out there to busy myself with, believe me. We are surrounded by the invisible, the lonely lurkers who are not seen. And they need Jesus, regardless of their station. They need care, self respect and viable options for their future. They need instruction and they need knowledge to accompany the spiritual food they are starving for.

Over the years we have found ourselves in the barrios of New Mexico, the slaughterhouse towns of Minnesota, the dying mountain towns of Pennsylvania, the Indian reservations of South Dakota, the inner city of Chicago, the rural farmtowns of Iowa and the streets and hospices of Houston.

 We have been shocked by the apathy of the church so many times that we have grown quite jaded. When we work with squatters in Chicago and discover that there are 5500 homeless youth there but only 200 available beds in shelters, yet the church will not concern itself with the problem, it is easy to get frustrated and tired.

 We have been faced with the problem of watching theTally-heads, the 8 and 9 year old kids who take dollar bills into the dark alleys of Uptown to buy a thinner-dipped rag to get high with, then wander drunkenly down the streets, oblivious to the world and quite invisible to the church. Little bodies that can no longer think are many times kidnapped for use in underground kiddie porn or murdered in an abandoned tenement with no one to shed a tear for them at all.

 The Natives on the reservations, drunk and diseased as a lifestyle. In the county where we lived, there was an 85 percent alcoholism rate. It was common to see 11 year old girls pregnant from a night of terrifying rape, usually at the hands of a drunken relative. Ten to fifteen people living in two rooms, grandmothers taking care of the continuous line of children birthed to mothers who do not care and have no way to properly raise the children, and the wheel turns on and on and on. And faced with the awful trauma, the church sent food to an already obese people as an answer.

 Over and over again we have stood helpless in the face of dire need. And over and over again we find the church unwilling to do anything at all about it.

 And after screaming ourselves hoarse for the church to awake from its sugar coma to no avail, only one solution makes any real sense: to become the church on our own terms and among our own kind and to meet the needs that we see with abandon.

 To plant churches in the inconvenient places, to raise up preachers discipled ourselves and to evangelize in the way that we feel led, not needing permission or approval from anyone. To organize into a group that will not shirk the responsibility and will never break and run when faced with outrageous odds.

 We must reemploy the tactics of the Methodist circuit riders, planting where there is a need and not caring if it is rural or how many show up for services. We must train those that are saved to take the message to the world. We must put evangelism first here in this country, using tents and street ministry to win those who are not even sought by the traditional church.

 We must take responsibility for the state of our generation and win the lost at any cost.

 I will not be tormented by spiritual impotence anymore, friends. I will not miss one more invitation to third world nations because the church does not care. I will not see brothers suffer in obscurity because they are not marketable.

I can not live with the hauntings any longer, the ghosts of the faces of those we have left behind, the need still there, the pain still there.

 This must become our moment as the outcast church, our time to band together and to do all that is in our hearts to do. We must find a way because if we do not, no way will ever be found. The need is the claim on you and I.

 And truthfully, what better place than right here and what better time than right now?

 -JC

Testimony from Rochester, MN

*************************
Friends, this healing testimony is just a small one from a Hispanic
church where we ministered last Sunday, the 27th.
We are expecting many more and we will post them as we get them.
Be encouraged!
J.
************************
Hi Pastor,

My feet are doing great. I feel a little of pull from my big toe on my
right foot, but that’s another problem.

The pain I had been feeling for years was more of a sharp pain that
started from the heel and worked its way up towards the side of my foot
to my big toe. Over a year ago when I visited my physician (Mayo Clinic)
the Doctor diagnosed me with Plantar Fasciitis and the only treatment
was to do some intense therapy and daily stretching with the use of
cold/warm several times a day - but told me that it wasn’t an easy thing
to get rid of.

Many months ago I found out about a treatment that uses shock
vibrations as therapy to lessen the pain, but Mayo has still not approved this
treatment.

The worst time, when I felt the most pain, was in the morning when I
first got up from bed. Sometimes it made it hard to get up and start
walking. I have always been an active person in sports, I love to play
soccer and I have been playing it less and less because I just knew that
every time I played it would take me about a week to recover form the
pain on my feet and by that time it was time to play again - so I would
be in pain for most of the spring/summer.

Well, last Sunday - the Lord got rid of it, and I am feeling great, I
get up and there’s no pain. I just have to be careful and stretch more
often, especially when I am going to play soccer as I don’t want to
abuse my feet again

I will have to ask for healing for the problem I have with the pulling
I feel from the big toe on the right foot - but this pain does not
compare to the one I used to have.

I’ll ask Vargas to get others to give their testimony and we’ll let
you know.

God Bless.

Dan

Outbreaks of Healing in Minnesota!

Well I’m sorry to say that James and his family have left our church in
Minnesota and we will truly miss him. He had such an impact on so many
of us. The blessings and healings from God were overwhelming. There is
always a little scepticism for many people when a healing service is
held. We have to remember that God told us we can be healed by believing
in our spirit and not our flesh. The Holy Spirit moved in our church
and we all felt the presence of God. There was no doubt that people were
healed and many saw the healings come to fruition right before our
eyes.

We have been praying corporately for many years for God to move us
forward in our church. We want to impact the small town we are in and the
surrounding communities  by bringing people to the Lord. We have had a
minimal impact so far. When we invited James and people heard of the
healing anointing he has we packed the church, Praise God! It’s just a
beginning and we all know that we as a church must continue to go beyond
our walls and spread the good word of Jesus! It’s time to step out and
shout out our love and commitment to our Saviour!

I believe we figured out that to move forward we must step back to a
time when people wanted to hear the truth. It seems today people want to
hear the fluff and good but not what their part has to be to serve the
Lord. What good does it do to hear only the good, people think they can
just live their lives as usual and they will have a place in Heaven.
Sorry to inform the masses but you may have to change your way of
thinking. There is good but there is also a truth we must follow. The sinners
prayer is a good start but it’s not enough unless you believe in what
you profess, change your life and serve God! Many of the Pastors we see
today are concerned about numbers, big buildings, television, books,
money, money, and more money. We all know that money is needed to keep a
church going but at what cost. Did they forget why they were
preaching? Did their money become a god to them. Sorry to say I believe it did.
On judgment day so many will be turned away and not understand why.

Remember “many will come but few will enter”.

We have a local church that just spent over $250,000.00 on their new
front steps! Are you kidding me! Is this where our money is going to
spread the word of God. I would be outraged if I attended that church. I
can’t imagine what that money could have done to the small feeding
program we help support in El Salvador.

Does God really care that the building we worship Him in is fancy,
ornate, expensively decorated. Doesn’t he want to hear our praise and
worship! Do the stairs really matter to God?

Thank You James for bringing us the truth! Thank You for showing us
that God is still with us! Thank You for believing so strongly in God and
proving to us he will never change. Thank You for the healings!

These are but a few of the healings I know of that happened in our
church:

My wife had scoliosis as a child and had a big curvature in her spine
and her rib cage was raised on the right side of her back about 4
inches. It is straight and flat now! I felt the movement over the period of
about a week.

A friend has had asthma her whole life. She has not used any medication
for 3 weeks.

A young girls inner ear was healed the day before she was to have
surgery..

A friend who drives a UPS truck had his back healed and has had no pain
for weeks.

Many backs were healed and people have given their testimony to the
healings.

I personally saw a mans leg grow about 3/4 of an inch.

We had allergies healed, foot problems healed, and many other things as
well.

Praise God for the glory and the anointing he has given James!

Don Scott
dscott@mainstreetcom.com

April 26th

Hello all!
Just a quick note from the road. We just finished up 4 weeks in North Central MN and are at our hotel in Rochester, MN. Tomorrow we hold a healing meeting at Lighthouse Family Church here in the morning and at a Hispanic congregation in the afternoon.
After that we are off to Madison, WI and back to MN again. We have also been invited to Duluth, MN and Kansas City within the next month so things are really busy.
We are getting tons of requests for tent meetings and are believing God for a bigger tent. We know that he is in control and so we are just thanking him for the answer.
We have about a quarter of what we need for Kenya and we know the rest is coming, so keep praying!
The healing ministry is going so well, so many miracles to tell you all about. But I have asked a brother from the last place where we were to write up the report as I thought you might like to hear a first hand report of it. It really is quite amazing but I perceive in my spirit that 2008 will see a healing revival in America. Now at the same time, we all know that satan loves to counterfeit and he is doing just that.
For us, we stick with the truths that formed the foundation of the Pentecostal church and the truths of the Word that can not be contested. Between those truths (even if they are hard for some to hear today) and the very fact that God is using a fool like me, we hope folks can tell that it is the real deal.
At the last meeting, we had people who came 3 and a half hours to be healed. And God did not disappoint! One lady had 32 tumors in her breasts disappear from Tuesday to Thursday, bless God.
Please keep us in your prayers. The healing anointing is taking a bit of a toll on me physically. I get so tired that I just feel like laying down and crying (and I am generally not a cryer!). It just drains me until I can’t even stand. This is a new thing and only began when the anointing got very intense.
So keep us in prayer as we are back in hotels and on the road again.
God bless you, friends. We love and pray for you!
J

Twice Sown Seed

5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 6 And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? 10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

With the economy acting funny, I wanted to put down some principles that I have used from years of praying in everything that we have, relying on God’s economy and not man’s.

I have been mulling over a principle found in this section of scripture for quite awhile now. I have implemented it in a few churches where I have Pastored over the years and have always seen fruit, even when I didn’t fully understand what was happening in the spirit.

What would have happened if Jesus would have taken the loaves and just sat down on the hillside and ate them? Or distributed them among himself and the disciples and ate them? Well, their own stomachs would have been full for sure, right?

However, the only miracle that would have happened that day would have been their own provision and the greater need and the real miracle would have been missed.

Instead of doing that, Jesus took what was offered to him, gave thanks for it and broke it. (There is a sermon right there…) He then had his followers sow it again among the people and in doing so, the miracle took place.

I have seen this principle out of the corner of my eye for quite awhile but it had never really been given legs until now.

How often churches and ministries push people to give, telling them about the huge miracles that will come from their gift. But how little are miracles actually seen! Not to mention the unmet needs among the congregation and the world that are never addressed by the church. Could it be that ministers and their staff are eating the seed and missing the miracle?

If Jesus would have run things the way that the modern church does, he would have taken an offering for bread in response to the need that he saw before him. Then he would have waited to see what came in and when he was presented with the 5 loaves, he would have either blamed the people for not giving or decided that it was not God’s will to feed them. After the failure of the offering, he would have of course fed himself and his staff the little that came in and wondered why God didn’t supply more for the obvious needs among the people.

That is exactly what we do, isn’t it? We look at the need and then we take up offerings to meet it. And if our need is 5,000 and only 5 came in, we would despair. And in our despair, not only would the need not be met but all blessing would be lost as well.

After all who was it, besides God, who supplied the need that day if not that boy with the loaves? It was his gift that multiplied and supplied the greater need. And it was his blessing that was at stake, wasn’t it?

I really believe that we need to rethink how we live out our faith and even our ministries today. So many methods are worldly and so little of what we do has any supernatural aspect to it. And that is not God’s fault, it is our own. We decide to just take control and do what we can, hoping that God will take over and do what we can’t.

But God is not interested in being your ‘closer’. God is interested in living Christ’s life through you, not with you.

Jesus understood something here in this story that I think we have missed in the modern church.

As I see it, there were two main steps to the miracle. First, the bread was sown to Jesus. This is what happens every single week in church. Now, we don’t know what did or didn’t happen with that boy due to his gift. Maybe it came back a hundred fold and he ended up being the greatest baker in Israel. What we do know is that the boy sowed into God’s economy, so the fact that he didn’t have much to sow didn’t mean much.

This is only because Jesus did not intend to eat it.

The second part of the miracle involves the increase and this is what I want to share with you. This is where the miracle moves into God’s territory and it is the area that we seldom see.

Most of us take what comes in and resign ourselves to our fate based on that amount alone. If the need is 7,000 and 7 comes in, we begin to make excuses for God. But the increase only happens after the second time it is sown!

If you remember, I wrote in God’s economy that God told me once to not “eat my seed”. That principle has stayed with me a long, long time. And it applies here as well. These are guidelines that I follow in my life:

Give as you are led with what you have, even if it is small.

I usually put my money where I have been getting fed spiritually by another minister unless God leads otherwise.

I try to meet any need that I personally come across or I do what I can, even if it is a sacrifice. This is the principle of the claim. I don’t respond to a need on a televangelist’s program but rather those needs that I see myself firsthand.

When you have a need, give. What comes back in, if it is not enough- sow it again a second time.

Give God avenues to work through. It may be day labor, investments, partners, websites, mail, whatever. The more avenues that you give God to use to supply, the less faith it takes to get the answer. If no one knows about your situation, you don’t work and sit around in your dark house all day, prepare for a faith war. It can still happen but it will be a hard row to hoe.

Take care of God’s servants, particuarly those without their own jet. Smith Wiggleworth taught that the person who cared for the needs of a missionary first would never have to worry about his own needs. This is a wonderfully true and powerful principle.

There is a miracle of increase there for you or those you are standing for. Just remember, God’s economy works differently than ours, usually it is the exact opposite of what men would normally do.

Be blessed!

JC

Restoring The Faith Of My Fathers

I have been praying and thinking a lot about tent meetings and healing ministry recently. Last July, God changed my mandate. It has been so difficult for me to adapt, in fact, I am still not there yet. I have been thrown way off of my accustomed course, not knowing how to do what God was asking me to do. What I am writing here is a big part of what God has been showing me during this difficult part of my life.

I really believe that the idea that I am trying to put into words is the most important thing that God has shown me in the last 10 years.

Last July we were thrown for a loop by a church split. I had some very dark days spent in prayer about what I should do. Towards the end of that time the Lord spoke some things to my spirit. The first thing was that I was to restore the faith of my fathers. The second was that I was to begin to operate in Sign-Gift ministry.

I did not have any idea what Sign-Gift ministry was and neither did anyone else that I called about it. Then one day I ran across a PDF of the Voice of Healing magazine from 1962 and across the top it read that it was a journal of Sign-Gift ministry. So, I called my parents and asked them, they knew of course and my life has taken a dramatic turn ever since.

As I have been talking about how we believe the Lord is leading us, I have been taking notes of the responses and trying to see what it is that is so different in our day than in the age of Pentecost. If I am to spread the word about restoring the faith of my fathers, I have to know how we are different than those times.

I was talking to someone who was around during the healing revival a few months ago. During the course of the conversation they told me that they believed that the healing anointing was dormant now in the church. From their standpoint, viewing the ministry from what happened in the 60’s, the gift left when A.A. Allen died and something else took its place.

Now at the time, I disagreed with that. I have watched people come out of wheelchairs, I have seen people healed of Cancer and AIDS. I have watched so many backs get healed that I have lost count of the numbers. I thought that what I had seen was proof-positive that they were just jaded and not seeing what God was doing today.

After the last few months, I am seeing things in a different way. The gift is not dormant, it is just misunderstood, misused and misappropriated. In short, we are playing marbles with diamonds.

Something has happened in the American church in the last 35 years since the rise of the Charismatic movement. Neither Kathryn Kuhlman or Benny Hinn who followed her have a gift of healing. Instead, they rely on the people getting their own healing out in the audience. I know that may be a hard pill to swallow for some of you folks but trust me, it is not said with any malice whatsover. It is just an observation that I have made that helps to discern the current state of things.

I mean, where do people go when they need a healing today? The conventional wisdom has been that you do not need to go to anyone, you can just believe for your own healing. This is the prevailing opinion today of the Charismatic church. I also believe that it is the one of the main reasons for the decline of any real healing ministry here in America.

Can you just stand and believe for your own healing? Yes, you can do that. Can you attend a meeting where you praise God and believe for a healing? Yes, you can do that as well. Can you have the elders pray over you? Yes, and the prayer of faith will raise them up. They are not the only answer that God has for you though, else why did he see the need to give the gift of healing to the church?

If you don’t have cancer level faith for yourself, what happens when you have to believe for it on your own? What happens when you are not ready to believe for that level of healing and end up having to try and build your house in a storm? Without someone with the actual gift or that level of faith, the outlook is probably pretty grim.

And right there is where I see the problem. There is a big misunderstanding in today’s church about the difference between being used in a gift and having a Sign-Gift ministry where the gift is on full display in full power.

We specialize in preaching in today’s church. We are big on programs, worship teams, greeters, social events and marketing. But where have the gifts gone?

Ever hear of the butter substitute called l Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter? Well, welcome to the age of I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Holy Ghost, some of the taste, half the cost of the original.

For those of you in a Holy Ghost - lite church that may not be familiar with the gifts, the nine main gifts that have been accepted by the Pentecostal church are as follows:

1. The word of wisdom

2. The word of knowledge

3. The gift of faith

4. The gift of healing

5. The working of miracles

6. Prophecy

7. Discerning of spirits

8. Speaking in tongues

9. Interpretation of tongues

These are the 9 gifts that the Pentecostal church stressed for more than 70 years. And these are the gifts that I remember being in operation when I was a child. They were seen regularly, weekly even, inside the church and when they were coupled with a ministry gift, those people operated in what was called “Sign-Gift” ministry or a ministry office operating with gifts attached as confirmation of God’s calling and mandate.

Most who were recognized as operating in Sign-Gift ministry did not do so inside the church. They did not become simply mobile preachers, they took the message to the world. They rented halls or bought a tent and took the message of the Gospel to the world.

I’m sure you can see where I am going with this.

Today, there is not much to be seen of the gifts inside of the church. In fact, most view it as a tiny part of altar ministry that the Pastor uses on occasion. The gifts are not learned by new believers and generally, the only people allowed to try to “flow” in them are those hand picked by the leadership. And they are not picked based on the gift but rather on their level of loyalty to the leader’s agenda. Worse still, if you are lucky enough to be taught about the gifts it will be taught to you by someone who is mostly just guessing.

This was not the case in the old days. Anyone could be used in the gifts if God wanted them to be. And if someone got out of line, the leaders took care of that problem. And those leaders were well versed in the gifts and how they operated. But it is just easier to block who can be used in a gift in today’s church.

Today as a result of our ignorance, the church is full of programs but not power. We are accepted in pastoral meetings with cessationists, but we are dying of cancer and bearing the burden of needing a word from God and being disappointed.

We used to hear from God and meet one another’s needs. Usually this came as a “Pentecostal Handshake” where someone heard that you had a need and wadded up money in their hand to give to you. No thanks were expected by the way.

We used to have tongues and interpretation in our meetings. Today when my wife and I are used in that, people are shocked. But that was how I learned to prophesy, in that awkward moment in church when everyone was waiting on God to speak.

Discerning of spirits was a major part of the church when we actually had more deliverance than counsel sessions. Miracles were seen when we took the power of God out to the world and actually had the guts to preach a confrontational Gospel.

Today, we have a million people who think they should act like they have the gifts “by faith” but there is no fruit because you can’t give what you ain’t got, Jack.

Anyone may be called upon by God to be used in a single instance of a gift in the church. This is usually preceded by the gift of faith, which gives them the confidence to try. If that person decided then that they had the gift and ran out in full time ministry, there would be real issues.

And this is what I see in today’s church, we have lost Sign-Gift ministry. Most have never even heard of it and so is it any wonder that we are living in a low-fat, low-calorie, low power era?

We are in real need on several fronts that I can see.

First, we need the gifts in the church once again. To get that, Pastors will have to learn to control differently. You can not control who God wants to use but you can control who gets out of line. Pastors must focus on God again in the church, his word, his will and his power. Get your eyes off of your agenda, your programs and your good ideas. Instead refocus on allowing the Holy Ghost to manifest himself through the Body again. Get yourself grounded and ground those around you, too much of the church is lost in garbage. Everyone gets “drunk in the Spirit” but no one changes. Everyone gets a “word” from Prophet Shinyshoes but you don’t witness to your neighbor. Get real about your faith and refuse to be a Cereal Box Christian (fruit, flake or nut, take your pick).

Secondly, we need to remember where we have come from. The old saints knew how God worked through the gifts. The problem was, they just figured he only moved that way. When God attempted to move them beyond their comfort levels, they dug in their heels and refused to move. How was a meeting run for the first 70 years of the Pentecostal church? If we can learn from the God things that they did and brush off the legalism and religion, we would be much further ahead than we are now. The faith of our fathers must be restored in our generation.

Thirdly, we need to see Sign-Gift ministry again in the church. Preachers sold out to God alone and preaching what God tells them to. Forget the business of Jesus, forget career management, forget superstar status, what is the message that God speaks to the world through you? What are you called to add to the church? What gifts has God placed permanently on you to confirm that?

More importantly, take the gift outside of the church walls- it wasn’t meant as a sign to the church, it was meant as a sign to the world that your message is from God!

We expect God to use his gifts and messengers for our benefit. No wonder we are so powerless! We are here to seek and save those that are lost and God will work with and confirm the word that you speak out in the world.

That is Sign-Gift ministry and we must get it back again today.

The church must be fully alive, friends. There is nothing new that must be added, there is only different ways of presenting it. But don’t call yourself Spirit Filled if you are ashamed to have him move in your church. Let’s rethink what we are doing but let’s include him this time.

Let’s rediscover the gifts that are a key element of Body life and refit our structure around them. I mean, Jesus really is more capable than you are, maybe we should let him control his church.

Let’s determine what gifts are in whom and then get them out in the world! Some street ministry, some jail or nursing homes. Some in tents, some in conference rooms. But ALL of them being sent out full of the Holy Ghost and power.

-JC Smith

 

The Faith Of My Fathers

Have you ever been to an old fashioned Holy Ghost tent revival?

When I have asked that question in meetings, the answer is usually a no. We are used to being in the comfort of an air conditioned building, sitting on comfortable chairs while being entertained. Tent meetings cost something, even if it is just a small bit of comfort or the pain of missing your favorite show for a few nights. Not to mention the horror of the porta-potty.

To the old saints, this wouldn’t have been a cost at all. Tent meetings were a normal part of the evangelism of the church. In the 60’s and before, tents popped up everywhere offering healing, salvation and deliverance to whoever attended. I was raised on the stories and still to this day, I meet people who were saved in a tent in the 60’s, before the church started hiding indoors or putting on rock shows.

There is just something about being under a tent. It is something that has captured my family’s heart now for years. Even in those times when we were besieged by legions of mosquitos in Iowa or sweating all moisture out of our body in the South Dakota summers, being in a tent always carries with it the feeling that you just can’t get any other way.

For us, it has been something that we have wanted to do full-time now for years. A tent gives us the ability to set up for as long as God wants us in an area and does not carry with it the costs that come from renting a room. Not to mention the fact that we can go wherever God wants us, we don’t have to be invited by a church, though if we are, that is wonderful.

Under a tent the anointing seems to flow better, maybe that is because that is where we are supposed to be as a church. Maybe being in the open air, declaring God’s ability to save and deliver and heal, is close to God’s heart, I don’t know.

What I do know is that the healing ministry is needed here in America now more than ever. So many are suffering under the yoke of the enemy for no reason. Satan has the church besieged within the four walls of their buildings while he herds the masses of humanity into an eternal hell, driving them forward with the lashes of sickness, sin and death. And no one breaks from the line and challenges this Goliath in God’s name.

We reconciled last year with a dear brother who has a tent that we will all start out with. We used to travel together a few years ago and the enemy hated the relationship. Over the last few years, he has grown and so have we and we believe that God is leading us to go out together once again. The tent can only hold 100 or so but we know that God will increase that as we need it.

I believe that beginning right now, we are going to see the power of God return to America. I believe that this year will mark the beginning of an outpouring that the church has not seen in 35 years. The gift of healing and old fashioned Pentecostal preaching will return to America, return to a people that are sick of Adonijah, tired of used car salesman preachers, tired of greasy prophets who declare their words for profit.

I feel this in my spirit so strong, that the days of the cave of Adullam are over and that those preachers who have suffered and toiled in obscurity will have their voices heard this year. And that voice is so radically different from the status quo that the church will be forced to pay attention.

I implore you to get involved with this today. Invite us in for a tent meeting in your village, farm, town or city. Help support this work of saving the lost- out there in the world where they are. Help support the healing ministry and be a part of the relief that only God can bring!

We have acquired a good video camera and will be taping meetings and healings from now on. These will be made available right here on the blog.

But we are in need of much more. The ministry needs a good diesel pick up and trailer to pull the tent and chairs. We need our own good sound system. We need some folks willing to volunteer for ministry, putting up the tent, setting chairs and a million other thankless jobs that need to be done. Plus there are many, many other things that we need to take the message of the cross to the highways and biways of America.

We are looking for regular partners that stay behind with the stuff yet share in the rewards of the battle. And that’s where you come in, church. Help send us out to those that the church has missed today.

God bless you.

-JC

Christianity can not save you.

The greatest struggle in my life is not drugs. It is not booze, not women, not men and not internet porn.

It is hating the church.

I do not understand it and probably never will. It is a subculture so totally different from my understanding that I can do nothing but loathe it most days. And that makes it my greatest struggle.

I know that God doesn’t want me to hate the church, I know Christ doesn’t want me to hate his “bride”. There is only so much that I can take however.

Let me make something clear, right here and right now. The church as you think of it is wrong, dead wrong.

The goal of the church is not to make you money.
The goal of the church is not to keep your people happy.
The goal of the church is not to be many in number.
The goal of the church is not to have a safe place for people to find Jesus on their own terms.
The point of the church is not to make nice families that worship together.
The point of the church is not to serve as a launching pad for your ministry.
It is not the house of God, its a building.
It is not a temple that God abides in, that is you.
It is not a monument to your life.
It is not your social club.
It is not a place where you bring in special speakers- it is a place where all ministry giftings can be used for God’s glory.
It is not a place where you can wave cute little banners and not do what Jesus said to do.
It is not a place to jockey for position.

It is a place where the kingdom of God is manifested corporately.
It is a place where God can heal the sick, save the lost and heal the broken hearted.
It is a place where we can be vulnerable to one another and be healed.
It is a training ground for ministry.
It is a launching pad to minister to the homeless, the AIDS victim, the battered, the widow and the orphan.
It is a place to give your all.
It is a place where you can hear the word, see the gifts and feel his Spirit.
It is a place where you can meet God and never be the same.
It is a holy place because his people are there.
It is a place to get help, even if it is for your rent, lights or car payment.
It is a place that is open every day, not just twice a week.

The church in America has lost the plot, period. Every week that goes by when lives are not transformed is an indictment. Every soul that perishes in your region is your fault.

We are here to seek and save those that are lost, what is the matter with you? What is the matter with his church in America?

Why are your hurt feelings more important than what God wants to do? Why are your needs greater than his? When did your opinion become of greater importance than God’s will?

We don’t give to see the lost saved. We don’t even pray for those that are trying to see them saved! Multiplied millions stumble into an eternal hell while we try to get bigger off other churches members!

Where has our heart gone in America? When did our ministry identity become the most important thing?

Let me clue you in: Christianity can not save you, your Pastor can not save you, religion can not save you and your church can not save anyone.

Only Jesus can do that, only Jesus and his blood.

And we had better start asking whose will it is that we are seeking to fulfill here, folks.

-JC

God’s Economy

But Satan’s own law is to sell and to buy

But God’s only way is to give and to die

Michael Card

“The Lamb is Lion”

The economy is a real hot button issue right now. It is so easy to get overwhelmed by the news that is out there and fear for the worst. Couple this with the fear of God’s judgment on America and you have a real recipe for fear.

I may be odd man out here and I am fine with that, I really am. You all know that I believe that the last days are not to happen to us, we are to happen to the last days. In that same way, the state of the economy is not something that we as believers should be consumed with, let alone fear.

Fear points to only one thing and that is unbelief. We fear for tomorrow and show that we do not really trust God. We trust gas prices, heating oil costs, mortgage numbers, inflation, judgment. We trust the evening news when they tell us that everything is getting worse. But we do not trust in God or his economy.

God’s ways are different than our own, that’s easy to see. And God’s economy does not depend on the Dow or the Sub-Prime mortgage crisis. God’s economy is based on giving, not getting. It is based on letting go of what you think you need in faith, believing his word above what you see with your eyes.

Trusting in God’s economy means that even if gas prices rise to six dollars a gallon, if I am invested in him, I have the money to pay that much. If the entire economy should crash and burn, I can still sleep soundly at night knowing that I bank somewhere more reliable than Chase or Wells Fargo. I bank somewhere that moths can not destroy and thieves can not steal from, in God’s economy.

Years ago I was living in an quarter trailer temporarily as I was starting a church. The place ran about 70 bucks a week. That was more than it was worth though, I could literally spit from one side to the other.

Anyway, I was running low on money with two kids drinking milk. I literally had 5 dollars left in the world. I went to God and asked what I should do with my five bucks, I could either buy some milk or put it in gas and go to a close town where I had a relative. I wasn’t due to preach for another week and so I had no other options. As I was waiting to hear what to do, the Lord spoke something in my spirit that I will never forget- he said “Don’t eat your seed”.

Now, I had never heard anything like that before in my life. But God has a way of saying things to you that makes the light go on in your head. He then directed me to take my five dollar bill and give it to a Pastor who had me in their church a few weeks before.

Giving away milk money doesn’t seem real practical, does it? But I packed the kids up and drove across town to the Pastors house. That was a long walk up the sidewalk, I promise you. The devil was telling me the whole time how stupid I was, how I was giving away that money and that not only would my kids not be able to have a bottle but that I would be stuck with no gas as well.

I started praying in the spirit and just kept putting one foot in front of the other til I got to that Pastor’s door, fighting the urge to break and run the whole time. As soon as I knocked, his wife answered and looked at me like something was growing out of my forehead. I handed her the five dollars (feeling very stupid by the way) and told her that God had urged me to come and give it to them.

She looked at me for a few seconds with her mouth hanging open and then started to laugh quite loudly at me. Man, I felt small, I promise you.

Then she called her husband and when he turned the corner and saw me, he started laughing too. So I am standing there miserable after giving away my last bit of money with two people laughing at me, feeling like a total heel. Then the Pastor told me that he and his wife were both told by God to give me fifty dollars each, just that morning. They didn’t know where I was living at the time and didn’t know how to get ahold of me but they had put the money away on the counter for safe keeping.

Man, we had a time of shouting then! I learned a valuable lesson that day; my life depends on God’s economy, not man’s.

I have watched this principle play out over the years more times than I can count. That if I give God his due out of what comes to me and if I am quick to sow rather than take and beg, God will always take care of me. His word promises that much and that word is exalted above his own name.

So don’t get too worked up about gas prices or the economy. Instead invest in God’s economy and you will always be assured that he will take care of you. And do not let any man put fear into you that you will be tossed around with the world if disaster happens. Take a stand now by faith and choose to believe God rather than man.

Be at peace, friends. God’s economy is in no trouble at all.

-JC