Table of Contents

Title
Copyright
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Evangelism Unleashed

By Randy Clark
Evangelism Unleashed Kindle © Copyright 2011 Randy Clark All rights
reserved
ISBN 978-1-937467-18-0
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from HOLY BIBLE,
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Introduction
The main purpose of this booklet is to create in you, the
reader, a thirst to see power evangelism in our day and hour. In
John 7:37-38, Jesus gave a universal call:
“On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood
and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to
me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has
said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
My intention for writing this booklet is to educate you
regarding the wonderful ministry of the Holy Spirit through the
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to inform those who
may not have heard the stories contained in this teaching
about the relationship between the work of Jesus on the Cross
and the continued works of Jesus through His Administrator,
the Blessed Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus represented the Father,
only doing what the Father instructed, so now the Holy Spirit
fulfills a similar role carrying out the instructions of Jesus
pertaining to the Church and to His Kingdom.
In this booklet, I will share some stories from some
modern-day evangelists, and how God used them powerfully to
affect their sphere of influence. I will also explain and define the
different types of evangelism and show some examples of
power evangelism throughout the early church (33 A.D. – 400
A.D.). I’m going to show you as well, how there were miracles
throughout North America all the way through the history of
the Church. And finally, I am going to finish by sharing some
powerful testimonies about what I’ve witnessed personally in
my travels around the world while I was preaching the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have also talked with apostolic
leaders from different countries about what God has been
doing in their part of the world. It is from this standpoint that I
write.
I was called to preach at the age of 18 after I had grown up
in church all of my life. I graduated cum laude from Oakland
City University, a General Baptist liberal arts University, where I
majored in Religious Studies. Then I graduated with a Master
of Divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary. I was a pastor during the 7 years of my theological
training and then it was another 7 years after graduation before
I began to hear the kind of stories that I will be sharing with
you. So I pray that these stories and examples of power
evangelism, especially healing and deliverance, create in you a
hunger and thirst to see the same today. If God can do it for
them, then He can surely do it again in our time. Let us press in
together to see nothing less that what the men and women of
old saw.
Chapter 1: Testimonies of Modern-
Day Evangelists

In this chapter, I want to share stories from some well-

known evangelists in the twentieth century. We will look at
how God has powerfully used these men and women to have
an affect on the cities and nations around them. They affected
their sphere of influence through a mighty demonstration of
the Spirit and power, that is, through gifts of healings, faith,
miracles, and deliverances.

Aimee Simple-McPherson
“After that the sergeant of police assigned regular details,
changed twice a day, to keep people from being trampled or
crushed against the temple, where thousands were unable to
gain admission. People shut out the day before would begin
gathering at the doors at five in the morning. By nine o’clock
the streets would begin to fill; at 12:15 the police would open
the doors, and in five minutes the house would be packed.
Police estimated that on several occasions 4,000 or 5,000 were
turned away. (The temple’s capacity was 3,000.) . . . people
would stand outside the temple through an entire service. They
would cling to a brick corner or ledge, in the hope that just
touching the building in which God worked so powerfully must
be a blessing. . . . At the end of two weeks, when the party had
outgrown Moolah Temple, an ad hoc committee of ministers
raised $1,500 to rent the 12,000-seat St. Louis Coliseum (with
standing room for 4,000 more) for the last week. . . . Any
promoter can tell you how difficult it is to fill a hall that size
today, for only one night, with or without an admission charge.
Only pop stars can do it, and a few political personalities; and
they require elaborate advance publicity. Before rock’n’roll
only an act like Mary Garden, the soprano or Harry Houdini
would book the St. Louis Coliseum for several nights-- and
neither star would have risked this without several weeks of
advance drumming.
Upon thirty-six hours’ notice, Aimee transferred her
meeting to the coliseum. The next day it was full, and for the
rest of the week Aimee preached three times daily to overflow
crowds of 16,000 so that the police were again called to keep
people from being crushed against the doors.”1
The date was the last week of April 1921. What was it
about the meetings that drew the crowds? It was power
evangelism.

William Branham
The largest auditorium in Helsinki, Finland, Messuhalli
Hall, which could seat 25,000, had been rented for the meetings.
The first night only 7,000 people attended, but due to the
power of the gifts of the Spirit working through the evangelist,
especially the gifts of the word of knowledge and healings, the
attendance tripled the next night. The interesting factor was
there were only 10 cars parked outside. The people were poor
and had walked or ridden bicycles to the meeting.
The year was 1950 and the evangelist was William
Branham. The reason for such crowds can be attributed to
power evangelism that the people had witnessed at the
meetings.2

Tommy Hicks
“The Atlantic stadium with a seating capacity of twenty
five thousand was rented. God began to stretch out His hand,
even though the beginning crowds were small. The news
spread rapidly; God began to heal. Before long, larger crowds
were coming out to see and here this ‘miracle worker’ as he was
called. Ushers were soon working 12-hour-a-day shifts. Often
the bleachers were occupied several hours before the services
were scheduled to begin. Because of the many people who had
to remain on the outside, loudspeakers were installed. Inside
the stadium, the walkways were filled, then the crowd pushed
down the fence surrounding the playing field and surged
across, filling the field as well. They pushed down the doors of
the stadium and shoved their way in.
...Because of the overflow crowds, a much larger stadium
was rented - the great Huracan stadium, the largest in the
country with capacity for 180,000. It had never been filled; no
sports event or political rally had ever filled it. And now the
little, unknown Gospel preacher had dared to rent it. The Angel
had said that the wave of blessing God would send would fill
the largest places with vast multitudes seeking to hear the
Gospel; rulers would hear the message. Now it was literally
coming to pass.
...Outstanding healings took place, too numerous to
recount.... Stolid cynicism gave way to hope. Proud Argentines
became as emotional as any Pentecostal. ...The lame were
walking, the paralyzed set free. The blind were seeing, stretcher
cases healed. Ambulances brought invalid patients and
returned empty. Life and health flowed like a river, for God had
come to Argentina.... An English paper of Buenos Aires
reported one of the services favourably, estimating the crowds
as being 200,000. It spoke of hundreds who waited from early
morning for the stadium gates to open.”3
What is so amazing about this quote is that the pastors
had felt that even to rent a place that would hold 1,500 people
would have been big enough. Argentina, prior to this
outpouring of healing, had been resistant to the gospel as
presented by the Protestants. The Protestant churches had
made very little progress subsequent to 100+ years of
missionary work. This healing crusade would change the
atmosphere of Argentina, and prepare the way for other
healing evangelists such as Omar Cabrerra, and Carlos
Annacondia.4
Who was the evangelist? It was the American Tommy
Hicks. What drew the people? It was only the power and
demonstration of the Holy Spirit that the people saw flowing
though the evangelist. This took place in the year of 1954.

Carlos Annacondia
 In 1984 in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Carlos Annacondia
would see 83,000 people make a decision to follow Christ in
response to his gospel invitations. Earlier that year he had seen
another 50,000 decisions in La Plata. And in 1985 he had two
meetings where 60,200 and 57,000 respectively were saved.
What was it that drew so many people to Christ? The most
distinctive aspect of Annacondia’s ministry is the ministry of
deliverance that he brings to the people after they accept the
Lordship of Jesus Christ. As soon as the people’s names are
taken for salvation, Annacondia begins to come against the
demon spirits that are in them. The spirits begin to manifest in
the people, and they are taken to the deliverance tent where
they receive freedom from demonic spirits.
Some of the other characteristics of Annocondia’s
ministry are the healing anointing, people being slain in the
Spirit, and people’s teeth being filled with gold and platinum.
When I was in Argentina in 1998, Roberto, his former campaign
manager who was now working for the Central Baptist Church,
told me at one point that you had to have at least four teeth
supernaturally filled to give a testimony due to the fact that so
many teeth had been filled with gold and platinum. God used
these phenomena to catch the interest of the press who then
called attention to Anaconda’s crusades. As a result of the
phenomena, some of the crowds exceeded over 100,000 in
attendance.

Oral Roberts
In 1957 Evangelist Oral Roberts led 1,000,000 souls to
Christ. Many of his meetings would run crowds from 50,000 to
100,000. Roberts states, “The next twelve months-1957-as I
ministered in the big tent in many American cities, we had our
largest crowds in any year-over two million -and the largest
number of conversions, and the largest number of healings.”5
It is significant that the year of the largest number of
healings was also the year of the largest crowds as well as the
largest number of conversions. What clearer indicator of the
value of power evangelism, healing, and deliverance, to
vindicate the message of the gospel.

Lester Sumrall
In 1953 Dr. Lester Sumrall had an encounter with demons
while planting a church in Manila, Philippines. A woman,
Clarita Villanueva, had been experiencing attacks and bite
marks on her body from what had commonly become known as
“The Thing.” “The Thing” was a supernatural force that no
once could see, yet there would be physical marks on her body
as they attacked her. These attacks were so terrible and had the
curiosity of so much of the city that they would often write
articles about what Clarita was experiencing in the newspapers
for the people of the city to read.
One night, while at home with his wife, Dr. Sumrall had the
radio on, and heard this woman crying out and screaming while
the doctors were calling it epilepsy and extreme hysteria. Lester
knew that is was something different. He knew that it was the
work of the devil. He could not sleep that night after hearing
the screams, so he stayed up all night and prayed until
morning. God spoke to his heart and said, “If you will go to the
jail and pray for her, I will deliver her.” But he found himself
answering the Lord that he didn’t want to go because
scientists, professors, legal experts, and even spiritualists had
been trying to deliver her without any results. The Lord told
him that he wasn’t sincere in wanting to see Clarita delivered
because, as God said, “you refuse to go and see her.”
After some divine connections through his friends with
the Mayor of Manila, he got an appointment to go and pray for
her. Here is the story in his words.
“After we gathered in the chapel, Dr. Lara asked that
Clarita be brought in. She observed each person slowly and
closely as she entered the room. When she came to me at the
end of the line, her eyes widened and she glared at me saying,
‘I don’t like you!’
They were the first words the devil spoke through her lips
to me. The demons used her lips constantly to curse me, to
curse God, and to curse the blood of Christ. She did this in
English, yet after she was delivered, I had to converse with her
through an interpreter, as she could not speak English.
I had her sit on a wooden bench, and I drew up a chair in
front of her.
‘Clarita,’ I said, ‘I have come to deliver you from the power
of these devils in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’
Suddenly she went into a fit of rage, screaming, ‘No, no!
They will kill me!’ Her body became rigid and she became
unconscious…Taking hold of her head with hands I cried,
‘Come out of her, you evil and wicked spirit of hell. Come out of
her in Jesus’ name!’”6
After a day of prayer and fasting, he returned the
following morning to be victorious over the enemy. He again
commanded the demons to come out of her and never to return.
Even though the demons tried to come back multiple times, the
woman was completely made whole by the power of God from
that hour on.
“On May 28, 1953, a headline in the Manila Chronicle read:
“Victim of ‘The Thing” Says Torturer Has Disappeared.”
The Thing is dead! This every believer can now proclaim
as Clarita Villanueva…claimed yesterday that “The Thing” has
finally been exorcised.
Clarita told of her deliverance from her attackers as she
pleaded for mercy before Judge Natividad Almeda-Lopez, who
was to have tried her on vagrancy and prostitution charges.
The girl said the prayers of American minister, Dr. Lester F.
Sumrall, who purposely visited her to purge the devil, did it.
Since Friday, May 22, when the minister prayer with her at the
city jail chapel for women, “The Thing” had never appeared
again, Clarita added.7
It is said that this one deliverance opened up the whole
city to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What was the cause
for the heavens opening over the city? It was power
evangelism – a demonstration of the realm of God that invaded
and broke the power of the enemy’s realm. It was the gifts and
power of the Holy Spirit being made manifest in a city to break
it open for the good news of Jesus to come and penetrate it.8

Reinhard Bonnke
In 1977 Reinhard Bonnke had 40,000 people attend the last
night of a crusade in Africa, even though just a few days earlier
there were only a few hundred who attended. What had drawn
the mass of people to the crusade? It was the report of Jesus’
healing ministry still occurring today through Evangelist
Reinhard Bonnke. He would later see even much larger crowds
– at Ibadan, Nigeria, the crowd was estimated at 500,000 by the
press, but some more conservative estimates by Reinhard’s
team were about 250,000.9 He has since ministered in Africa to
crowds of over 1,000,000 people in his evangelistic crusades.

Benny Hinn
By 1997 Benny Hinn would be filling stadiums in North
America drawing crowds of over 20,000 people in attendance.
Around the world, he would draw even larger crowds than he
does in North America. What is it about Benny’s ministry that
has drawn the crowds? Nothing more than the healing power
and presence of the Holy Spirit that is extremely evident in his
crusades.

People Are Drawn by Healing Power

Whether it was Aimee McPherson in the 1920’s, William
Branham in the 1947, Oral Roberts in 1957, Reinhard Bonnke in
1977, Carlos Annacondia in 1987, or Benny Hinn in 1997, one
thing remains the same; people are drawn to Jesus when they
see His healing power demonstrated in their midst. It is also
true that the miraculous healing ministry was a primary reason
for the success of the missionary activities of those who
believed and practiced healing in their ministries. “This burst of
independent mission work - remarkably vital in contrast to the
sluggish and impoverished mission programs of most
denominations - resulted in stunning growth for worldwide
Pentecostalism. The success of miracle-based evangelism
seemed to Pentecostal leaders one more confirmation that God
was behind the revival.”1010
There could be many more stories of men and women and
their great evangelistic harvests because there are so many
witnesses to these events. The most exciting aspect of “power
evangelism” isn’t in the stories of the past, but it is in the
stories that can happen in the future. As great as the moves of
God were in our past, the greatest healing movement of God, I
believe, is still in our future. William Branham, Oral Roberts,
Paul Cain, and Smith Wigglesworth all prophesied of a great
future revival. Bible scholars Jack Deere and G.B. Caird believe
that the Scriptures teach that there will be a great revival at the
end of time. 11 I want to be a part of it, and I hope you, the
reader, does too.

[1] Daniel Mark Epstein, Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee

Semple McPherson, (New York, Harcourt Brace & Company,
1993) pp. 213-213
[2] Owen Jorgensen, Supernatural: The Life of William
Branham, Book Three: The Man and His Commission (1946-
1950), (Tucson, Arizona, Tucson Tabernacle, 1994) p.176

[3] Dr. R. Edward Miller, Cry for me Argentina:Revival begins in

City Bell, (Essex, England, Sharon Publications Ltd., 1988)
pp.42,43,45

[4] This is the opinion of Dr. Pablo Deiros a leading scholar of

Latin America, the leading scholar on the history of the
protestant church in Argentina. Personal interview 1998.

[5] Oral Roberts, Expect A Miracle: My Life and Ministry, an

Autobiography; (Nashville, Tn. Thomas Nelson Publishers,
1995) p.135

[6] Lester Sumrall, Demons The Answer Book, (Thomas Nelson

Publishers, 1979) p. 19-20.

[7] Ibid. pg. 24

[8] Whole story is recounted in Lester’s Book, Demons The

Answer Book.

[9] Ron Steele, Plundering Hell-To Populate Heaven: The

Reinhard Bonnke Story, (Melbourne, Florida; Dove Christian
Books, 1987) p. 157

[10] David Harrell Jr., All Things Are Possible: The Healing and
Charismatic Revivals in Modern America; (Bloomington,
Indiana; Indiana University Press, 1975) p.94

[11] I heard Dr. Deere teach on this in Evanston in the late

1980’s, and it is also the viewpoint in G.B. Caird’s book on
Revelation
Chapter 2: Different Types of
Evangelism

Now that we’ve seen the demonstration of the Spirit’s

power in some modern-day evangelists, I want to discuss with
you the different types of evangelism that are understood
throughout the church. I would also like to define how I am
using the term “power evangelism.” I want you to hear my
heart as you read this. I am not, by any means, emphasizing
power evangelism more than the other types of evangelism.
But I believe that it is not an either/or, but it has to be a
both/and. It is power evangelism coupled with the other types
of evangelism that will be most effective in these days to see
the lost come to the Lord.

Presence Evangelism
Evangelism is a priority for most of the Church. It is
however, understood differently by different types of
churches. Some have an emphasis upon what is called
“presence evangelism.” This is evangelism by being the salt
and light that Jesus longed for us to be. Jesus said in Matthew
5:13-16:

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its
 saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no
longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill

cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp
and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its
stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In
the same way, let your light shine before men, that
they may see your good deeds and praise your
Father in heaven.”

This is evangelism by bringing the love of God into

hurting contexts, which are represented by orphanages,
hospitals, relief efforts, and many other similar kinds of activity.
It is evangelism by people seeing our “good deeds” so that we
can bring praise to God in heaven. The liberal churches would
be good examples of where this form of evangelism is almost
the exclusive form practiced by the church.

Presentation Evangelism
Other churches emphasize presentation evangelism. This
is evangelism that is connected to the sharing of the gospel,
presenting the claims of Christ, and calling for a commitment to
Christ. This form of evangelism is based more upon reason and
logic to come to the faith. The evangelical churches would be
good examples of this form of evangelism.

Power Evangelism
 Still, other churches emphasize power evangelism. This
type of evangelism is connected to some ministry of power,
which usually utilizes one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which
in turn gives opportunity for the presentation of the gospel.
The display of power is also seen to cause many to come to
faith in Jesus Christ. This type of evangelism would often be
connected to gifts of healings, working of miracles and
deliverances. This will be the primary way power evangelism is
to be understood in this booklet.
However, I would be quick to add that during times of
Divine visitation by the Holy Spirit there has been another
display of power. That display is a deep conviction for sins
that often leaves the person that is under this conviction in a
state of spiritual anguish, which is a deep sorrow for their sins.
This deep spiritual anguish continues until they become
evangelized, saved, converted or whatever term is used in your
Christian context. This spiritual anguish would be so strong
that they often would be reduced to tears, sometimes weeping
and wailing over their eternal separation from God. Sometimes
power evangelism has been demonstrated by knocking the
unregenerate to the ground, other times causing them to jerk,
and even at other times causing them to tremble under deep
conviction. These latter phenomena occurred during the First
and Second Great Awakenings and the Cane Ridge Revival, as
well as most other revivals in church history. Good examples of
churches which have emphasized power evangelism at times
would be the Pentecostal, Charismatic, and Third Wave
Evangelical churches.1
Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare
Groups within all three of the above-mentioned churches
also see another form of power evangelism, that being
“Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare” (SLSW). There is a lot of
diversity in the practice of strategic level spiritual warfare. The
bottom line of this concept is the need to receive a victory in
the heavenlies over an area through dance, praise, declarative
prayer, identificational repentance, and intercessory prayer. It
presupposes that through various means God will lead the
people of prayer to know what to pray against strategically. It
is not only praying for God’s blessing, but also for the binding
of Satan. It does presuppose a power encounter in the
heavenlies that affects the ability of the unbelievers to accept
or reject the claims of Christ.2 Today most all of the largest
churches in Latin America that I personally know about
practice some form of SLSW.
One of the strategies of the enemy is to cause the Church
to be divided over partial truths. It isn’t that one of these forms
is right and the other two are wrong. The truth is that all these
types of evangelism are all valid forms of evangelism.
Therefore, in discussing the blessing and potential blessing of
power evangelism for reaching a post-modern world, do not
hear a rejection of the other two forms of evangelism. In fact,
when all three forms of evangelism are embraced and practiced
by the church in a community, the greater will be the harvest in
that community.
The following section is to fill in the informational gap that
many Christians have today about the role power evangelism
has played in the advancement of the Christian faith. Many
Christians, like this writer, may have been involved for years in
the local church, or even graduated from a denominational
Bible School, Christian College, or Seminary, and still not have
heard the testimony of God’s power working through His
servants to bring many to Christ.

[1] The Term Third Wave Evangelicals refers to those

evangelical which are not dispensational, but who believe all of
the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still for the church today. They
would distinguish themselves from Classical Pentecostals by
not believing that one had to have the initial evidence of
speaking in tongues. Neither would they believe that the
Baptism in the Holy Spirit must always be subsequent to
conversion. However, some would be quick to admit that it
usually is subsequent to conversion.

[2] For more on this see the works of Dr. C. Peter Wagner,
especially Breaking Strongholds in Your City, Confronting the
Powers, and Engaging the Enemy; also The Twilight Labyrinth:
Why does Spiritual Darkness Linger Where It Does? by
George Otis Jr.; and the book which lays down the biblical
foundation for fighting the spiritual enemies of God, God at
War by Dr. Gregory Boyd. For the other side of this discussion
see Three Crucial Questions about Spiritual Warfare by Dr.
Clinton E. Arnold.
 Chapter 3: Early Examples of
Power Evangelism

Now, we are going to look at some early examples of

power evangelism. We are going to start with the example that
is found in Acts 19, with Paul and the great Ephesian revival. I
am going to also show you the some early examples of this
type of evangelism from the first four hundred years of the
church. You will see how examples of power evangelism existed
in the early church, though they might not have used the same
language.

New Testament Revival: Paul in Ephesus

The greatest example of power evangelism in the New
Testament is the Ephesian Revival recorded in the Acts of the
Apostles.1 Luke tells us, “This went on for two years, so that
all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard
the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through
Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched
him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and
the evil spirits left them.”2 So many people were becoming
Christians that it was threatening the economic livelihood of
the silversmiths who made their living from selling the idols of
Artemis.
Listen to the silversmith, Demetrius, “ . . . And you see
and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray
large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the
whole province of Asia.” Church growth experts have said that
this was Paul’s greatest success, and that the church at
Ephesus could have been 50,000 strong by the time that
Timothy was overseeing it. It is interesting that this was also
where Paul saw the greatest display of what we now call
“power evangelism.”
However, demonstrations of power alone would not result
in effective evangelism – Paul was also involved in
presentation evangelism. Luke tells us, “Paul entered the
synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing
persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them
became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly
maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with
him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks
who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.”3
Power evangelism is not the enemy of presentation
evangelism; it doesn’t say, “I have no need of you.” Rather,
from a biblical perspective, power evangelism is the best friend
of presentation evangelism. It is hoped that this teaching will
build a bridge between these two forms of evangelism over
which evangelists of the gospel can cross and embrace each
other as friends and fellow soldiers of the Captain of our Faith,
Jesus Christ.
The Early Church (100-400A.D.)
The Yale Professor of History, Ramsay MacMullen,
wanted to find out how the early Christians who had no
political power were successful in defeating the old religions,
and establishing Christianity as the religion of the Roman
Empire, even though they were in fact considered practitioners
of an illegal religion for part of the period 100-400 AD. His
research was surprising. It was not primarily great preaching or
the result of great apologists for the faith, but it was primarily
the result of power evangelism. People became Christians
because the God the Christians worshipped was more powerful
than the false gods they had been worshipping before coming
to Christ. This was evidenced in the power of God to heal and
especially in the deliverance ministry of the Christians. The
deliverance ministry was a reality in this time even among other
religions. What was so different was how fast the Christians
could bring deliverance to those needing it. This discovery,
that power evangelism was the context for presentation
evangelism to be more readily accepted by unbelievers was not
the discovery of some Church historian or theologian, but
rather a secular historian from Yale University.4
Ironically, a great English Christian named Michael Green,
in his book Evangelism in the Early Church, which covers the
first 300 years of Christianity, barely mentions the role of
deliverance and healing as a means of evangelizing. This just
proves the view that paradigms often prevent us from seeing
what is there because we have been trained to expect to see
things a certain way. This is why, often, new perspectives are
brought from someone outside the particular field of study or
work.
Space does not permit a complete historical study of the
role of power evangelism in the history of the church in its
efforts to evangelize. Instead, let us consider some examples of
people and times of power evangelism, and consider what
other leaders are saying about power evangelism.

[1] Acts 19

[2] Acts 19:10-12

[3] Acts 19:8-10

[4] Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire (A.D.

100-400) (New Haven, Connecticut; Yale University Press,
1984,) p.62
Chapter 4: Pictures of Power
Evangelism

In this chapter we’re going to look at some more modern

accounts of power evangelism. Sure, power evangelism
happened in Bible times and the first four hundred years of the
church. But can it happen in more modern times? Well, read on
and see what God has done in the more contemporary times.

The Great Awakenings and Cane Ridge

Revival
The First Great Awakening occurred during the colonial
period of the United States before it was its own country. It
began in December 1735 with Jonathan Edwards. The Second
Great Awakening began to gain steam about 1792 when God
began to visit the colleges in the United States. Then in 1794
He moved ministers to join together in prayer for revival. By
1800 revival was being experienced in many churches in the
United States, and the Awakening’s most famous meetings that
greatly affected American Christianity was called the Cane
Ridge Revival. These two awakenings both experienced power
encounters such as falling, shaking, groaning, shouting,
deliverances from demons, and falling into trances. The Cane
Ridge meetings were soon followed by the outbreak of other
phenomena, what is commonly called ‘the jerks.’ This
phenomena was so violent that it led to the death of one of the
detractors of the revival; it is reported that he jerked so hard
that his neck was broken as he was cursing the revival.1

Charles Finney
Charles Gradison Finney was the greatest revivalist in
America of the 1800’s. Some even say he was the greatest
American evangelist of all time. His biography is filled with
power encounters that he had experienced and witnessed.
Just hours after his conversion he experienced a mighty
Baptism with the Holy Spirit that he expressed felt like waves of
electricity and waves of liquid love flowing over him. This was
such a powerful experience that he cried out, “I shall die if
these waves continue to pass over me. ... Lord, I cannot bear
any more;...” The first person with whom Finney spoke after
this experience went to get an elder to help Finney because he
had been so wiped out by the power of the experience. This
elder of the church was most serious and grave. As Finney was
telling him how he felt the man fell into a “most spasmodic
laughter. It seemed as if it was impossible for him to keep from
laughing from the very bottom of his heart.”2
Finney received a second Baptism in the Spirit within 24
hours of the first and then began to preach the day after his
conversion. He was immediately successful in leading people
to the Lord. He would have many baptisms in the Spirit
throughout his lifetime. His ministry would see thousands
falling under the power of the Holy Spirit, healings,
deliverances, shakings, groanings, and weeping. Some of those
who fell under the power of the Spirit would not be able to get
up for long periods of time. Finney would also be used to bring
about 500,000 people who had been lost into the Kingdom of
God.
Finney, like present day evangelists and pastors, had
threats made against his life. A person attended the meetings
to try to kill him, but being knocked out of his seat, and
brought under deep conviction, he was converted to Christ
instead!
There appears to have been a strong connection between
the prayer ministry in his life – the way he moved the churches
to pray in faith along with the prayer ministry of both Father
Nash and Abel Clary – and his evangelistic success. Finney
writes of Abel Clary, “The first I knew of his being in
Rochester, a gentleman . . . asked me if I knew a Mr. Abel Clary,
a minister. I told him that I knew him well. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘he is
at my house, and has been there for sometime, and I don’t
know what to think of him.’ I said, ‘I have not seen him at any
of our meetings.’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘he cannot go to the meeting,
he says. He prays nearly all the time, day and night, and in
such an agony of mind that I do not know what to make of it.
Sometimes he cannot even stand on his knees, but will lie
prostrate on the floor, and groan and pray in a manner that
quite astonishes me.’ I said to the brother, ‘I understand it;
please keep still. It will all come out right; he will surely
prevail.’”3 I wonder if Nash and Clary were not breaking open
the heavens over the cities and towns where Finney was
ministering. I have a strong suspicion that they were doing
strategic level spiritual warfare 150 years before the term would
become popular.
Like Peter Cartwright, the Methodist evangelist before
him, Finney also had a man who was a great opposer to the
revival stricken down by God, who died as he too was drinking
and ridiculing the work of God. Such judgments of God were
used to bring a healthy respect for the holy things of God into
the meetings. This type of thing occurred more than once in
Finney’s meetings.4

The Pentecostal Revival

The 1900’s were introduced like the 1800’s with revival.
The Frontier Revival or the Second Great Awakening, as it was
called, with Cane Ridge being the most powerful of the
meetings, was to be followed by an even more powerful revival.
This revival is the Pentecostal Revival which often dates back
to January 1901. Again, we see people falling, shaking, rolling,
weeping, wailing, dancing, laughing in the Spirit, and speaking
in tongues. The uniqueness of this movement is that for the
first time tongues would be tied to the baptism of the Holy
Spirit as the initial evidence of being filled. Azusa Street would
occur in 1906 and the first name for the Azusa Street Revival
was the “Los Angeles Blessing.”5 Hungry people would travel
from every inhabited continent to find more of the manifest
presence of God and then return to spread the Pentecostal
revival in their country. The Pentecostal revival would be
characterized by its emphasis upon the return of the spiritual
gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 including the “sign gifts” of tongues,
interpretation of tongues, prophecy, working of miracles and
the gifts of healings.
It is disappointing to me how much prejudice there still is
in the church towards Pentecostals. When I was taking a
course on evangelism in seminary, we studied every revival in
North American church history except two, the Pentecostal
Revival and the Latter Rain Revival, which was a Pentecostal
revival in its origin. When you consider that the most
successful part of the church in reaching the lost this century
is the Pentecostal movement, it is shameful for its lack of
mention in the evangelism classes of our evangelical
seminaries and colleges. It is not healthy to allow our prejudice
to blind us to the facts of how powerfully God has used
Pentecostals to reach more lost than any other part of the
church, who in the early days were poor with no institutions,
buildings, money, or programs. They reached more than the
Reformed, the Lutheran, the Anglican, the Baptist, the
Methodist, and the Roman Catholics. These denominations
with all their history, buildings, finances, organization, and
programs were surpassed in evangelism by the Pentecostals.
What is the cause of this? The Pentecostals embraced the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s power, and the restoration of
the power ministries of the Holy Spirit, which are often referred
to as the sign gifts – prophecy, tongues, interpretation of
tongues, healing, and working of miracles as still for today. It
was because of this understanding that the word for salvation
includes not only the saving of the soul, but deliverance from
demonized situations, and physical and emotional healing that
gave such spiritual power to the Pentecostal message.
Because I often hear the phrase, “I am not concerned
about phenomena, what I am concerned about is evangelism,” I
want to elaborate a little more about the affect to the above-
mentioned revivals upon the growth of their respective
denominations. How were the Methodists, Baptists, and
Presbyterians affected?

[1] Peter Cartwright, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright: With

an Introduction, Bibliography and Index by Charles L, Wallis,
(Nashville, Tn., Abingdon Press, 1856) p.45

[2] Charles G. Finney, Charles G. Finney: An Autobiography,

(Old Tappan, N.J., Fleming H. Revell Co. 1876) p.21

[3] Ibid. p. 297

[4] Ibid. p.180

[5] Vinson Synan shared this with me at a conference at my

church in 1994.
 Chapter 5: Power Evangelism:
Revival Spreads from England to
American Denominations

As you read on, you are going to see the results of power
evangelism in the First Great Awakening through the ministries
of John Wesley and George Whitefield. You might be surprised
to find out, that most major American denominations were
influenced mightily by these ministries. Almost every American
denomination was birthed out of an outpouring of the Spirit
that resulted in the organizing of a denomination. Our mainline
denominations were founded on the power of God coming to
change lives.

The First Great Awakening

John Wesley
Prior to the outbreak of revival in America, revival had
already broken out in England under the ministry of John
Wesley and George Whitefield. Wesley’s ministry experienced
the deliverance of people from the evil one. People being
thrown to the ground (later called swooning and then later
slain in the Spirit) happened quite frequently.
Listen to the words of John Wesley,

“In the midst of the dispute, one of the ladies present

felt as if she were pierced by a sword. Before she
could be brought to another house, where I was
going, she could not avoid loudly crying out, even
in the street. But no sooner had we made our request
to God than He sent her peace from His holy
place.”1 “The next Saturday at Weaver’s Hall a
young man was suddenly seized with a violent
trembling.”2 Immediately one, then another, and
another sank to the earth. They dropped on every
side as if thunderstruck.. . . . One was so wounded by
the Spirit that you would have imagined she could
not live a moment. . . . By the end of April, we
understood that many were offended at the cries of
those on whom the power of God came. One of these
was a physician who was afraid these cases might
be fraud. Today while I was preaching at Newgate,
one whom the doctor had known for many years was
the first who broke out into strong cries and tears.
The physician could hardly believe his own eyes and
ears. He went over and stood close to her, observing
every symptom, till great drops of sweat ran down
her face and her entire body shook. He did not know
what to think, being clearly convinced it was not
fraud nor any natural disorder. But when both her
soul and body were healed in a moment, he
 acknowledged the work of God.”

“By May many more than before were offended. At

Baldwin Street my voice could scarcely be heard
amid the groanings of some and the cries of others,
calling aloud to Him who is able to save.”

“A Quaker who stood by was greatly displeased at

the commotion and was biting his lips and scowling
angrily. Suddenly he dropped down as if
thunderstruck. The agony he was in was terrible to
behold. We begged God not to charge him with his
folly. God answered and the man who soon lifted his
head and cried aloud, ‘Now I know you are a
prophet of the Lord!’”

“At Newgate another mourner was comforted. I was

asked to step into a house to read a letter written
against me. The letter stated that I was a deceiver of
the people because I taught that God wills all men
to be saved. One person who had long asserted the
contrary was there when a young woman came in.
Just as we rose from giving thanks, she reeled four or
five steps, then dropped down.”3

These were the accounts of sinners and religious enemies

and critics who were knocked down to the ground, or slain in
the Spirit. Revivals often are accompanied by such phenomena.
It is difficult for us to accept that God’s Spirit would cause
people to be thrown to the ground, but in Scripture when there
is a theophany (God revealing himself), most of the time the
people become afraid, sometimes they fall, and other times they
tremble.4
Not only was there healing, shaking, and falling that
accompanied the ministry of John Wesley, there was also
deliverance. Wesley again writes in his journal,

“On our way home, someone met us in the street and

informed us that the weaver had fallen down, raving
mad. The weaver had sat down to dinner but
decided to finish first reading a sermon he had
borrowed on ‘Salvation by Faith.’ While reading the
last page, he changed color, fell off his chair, and
began screaming terribly as he beat himself against
the ground. The neighbors were alarmed and
flocked together in his house. Between one and two
in the morning, I came in and found him on the floor.
The room was full of people whom his wife tried to
keep out. He cried aloud, ‘No, let them all come! Let
all the world see the just judgment of God!’”

“Two or three men were trying to hold him down. He

immediately fixed his eyes on me, stretched out his
hand, and cried, ‘Aye, this is he who I said was a
deceiver of people! But God has overtaken me. I said
it was all a delusion, but this is no delusion.’ He
then roared out, ‘Oh, you devil! You cursed devil!
Yes, you legion of devils! You cannot stay. Christ will
cast you out. I know His work is done. Tear me to
 pieces if you will, but you cannot hurt me!’”

“He then beat himself to the ground again, his breast

heaving at the same time, as though in the pangs of death, with
great drops of sweat trickling down his face. We all began
praying. His pangs ceased, and both his body and soul were
set at liberty.”5

George Whitefield
The greatest evangelist of the English counterpart to the
American First Great Awakening, called the Great Evangelical
Revival in England was George Whitefield. He began leading
this revival at the young age of 21. He was concerned about
some of the phenomena he was hearing about in the reports of
John Wesley’s meetings. John writes about this,

“On Saturday George Whitefield and I discussed

outward signs which had so often accompanied the
inward work of God. I found his objections were
chiefly grounded on the gross misrepresentations he
heard concerning these facts. The next day he had
an opportunity of informing himself better, for no
sooner had he begun to invite sinners to believe in
Christ than four persons collapsed close to him. One
of them lay without either sense or motion. A second
trembled exceedingly. The third had strong
convulsions over his entire body but made no noise
other than groans. The fourth convulsed equally and
called upon God with strong cries and tears. From
 this time, I trust we shall all allow God to carry on
His work in the way that pleases Him.”6 Whitefield
also experienced healings in his meetings. “. . . and I
trust, the Sun of Righteousness arose on some with
healing in His wings. The people were melted down
very much at the preaching of the Word . . .”7

The amazing thing revealed in Whitefield’s journals was

the repeated statements about George being weak in body,
often very ill, and God coming in power with the preaching of
the word. There were accounts of deliverances, but not
accounts of George praying for divine healing with the laying
on of hands. Healing in this phase of Protestant history was
still a lost doctrine, only later to be rediscovered by the later
Holiness Movement, then by the Faith Cure Movement which
included Reformed, Baptist, Christian and Missionary Alliance,
other writers, and then by the Pentecostal people.
When reading the journals of the Wesleys and Whitefield,
one can’t help but think of how Jesus rebuked the Pharisees of
His day for honoring the prophets when their actions towards
Him indicated that had they lived when the prophets lived,
they would have spoken against them rather than honored
them. It is amazing how we honor today those who were
ridiculed and maligned during their ministries. Wesley and
Whitefield would be considered “Counterfeit Revival Leaders”
if they were conducting their ministry today. They would be
guilty of participating in the false “slain in the Spirit
movement.” They would definitely be accused of emphasizing
mysterious experiences with their high value being placed on
the experience. They would also be accused of exaggerating
the meetings. Recordings of some of their meetings would be
played over the radio, especially the more bizarre would be
featured – screaming, wailing, weeping, and roaring, etc. –
those things that often occurred in their meetings.
Because their meetings were accompanied with enough
power to cause the affections (emotions) to be moved upon by
the Spirit of God, could it be a possible theory, that this very
phenomena was what attracted the attention of the English and
American people of that day? Both John Wesley and George
Whitefield record in their journals preaching often to crowds of
a few thousand to 20,000 - 30,000 in a day without any
amplification at all.
What was the fruit of Great Awakening in the Colonies of
America? Whitefield was drawn to America eleven times, and
then died in the colonies. Was it real revival or people just
being caught up in esoteric experiences? Decide for yourself.
“In one period of three years during the awakening, at least
thirty thousand persons were converted in New England. And
in the same period, at least fifty thousand persons were
converted in all the colonies. When one remembers that the
total population of the colonies was about two million, these
numbers are no less than amazing. A similar awakening today
would have to result in more than five million conversions to
achieve the same percentage.”8

The Baptist and Power Evangelism

When several Southern Baptist seminary professors of
evangelism were asked by phone, “What was the greatest
revival in Baptist history?” the response was unanimously,
“The Shantung Revival.”9 Healing, falling (or slain in the
Spirit), electricity, laughing in the Spirit, even raising the dead
are recorded in “The Shantung Revival.” This was a revival
built upon the desire that one had truly been “born again”
even though some of the missionaries hadn’t, and the desire to
be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Another revival which affected the Baptist was not a
Baptist revival, but one in which Baptist participated, the Cane
Ridge Revival. The Cane Ridge Revival began in the summer of
1801, at that time when the population of Kentucky was
221,000. With poor transportation systems, the revival that was
led by the Presbyterians had 25,000 people attend at one time.
What drew all those people? Obviously, it was God. But could
He have used the phenomena as His strategy of advertising to
get the attention of the people? They would come for the
uniqueness, but then be gripped by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Cane Ridge was part of what became known among
Baptists as the Awakening of 1800. The following is a Baptist
account by their historian, Benedict, regarding a Baptist camp
meeting. “In the progress of the revival among the Baptist, and,
especially, at their camp-meetings, there were exhibited scenes
of the most solemn and affecting nature; and in many instances
there was heard at the same time, throughout the vast
congregation, a mingled sound of prayer, exhortation, groans,
and praise. The fantastick exercise of jerking, dancing, etc. in a
religious way, prevailed much with the united body of
Methodists and Presbyterians, towards the close of the
revival; but they were not introduced at all among the Baptists
in these parts. But falling down under religious impressions
was frequent among them. . . . And in some cases, people were
thus strangely affected when alone; so that if some played the
hypocrite, with others the exercise must have been involuntary
and unaffected.”10
In two years, a local Baptist Association in South Carolina
by 1802 had doubled since 1800 and had a membership of
2,084. Another association, which had 959 members in 1801,
reported a membership of 3,518 in 1803. This was not
sociological growth either, because this was a time of
emigration out of the eastern states to the western ones.
“Kentucky Baptist grew from six associations, 106 churches,
and 5,119 members in 1800 to ten associations, 219 churches,
and 15,495 members in 1803.”11
What was the Cane Ridge Revival like? What
characterized this move of God? “Among the thousands
converted was James B. Finley, who later became a Methodist
circuit rider. He wrote, ‘The noise was like the roar of Niagara.
The vast sea of human beings seemed to be agitated as if by a
storm. I counted seven ministers, all preaching at one time,
some on stumps, others in wagons, and one was standing on a
tree which had, in falling, lodged against another. . . . Some of
the people were singing, others praying, some crying for mercy
in the most piteous accents, while others were shouting most
vociferously. While witnessing these scenes, a peculiarly
strange sensation, such as I had never felt before, came over
me. My heart beat tumultuously, my knees trembled, my lips
quivered, and I felt as though I must fall to the ground. A
strange supernatural power seemed to pervade the entire mass
of mind there collected.... I stepped up on to a log, where I
could have a better view of the surging sea of humanity. The
scene that then presented itself to my mind was indescribable.
At one time I saw at least five hundred swept down in a
moment, as if a battery of a thousand guns had been opened
upon them and then immediately followed shrieks and shouts
that rent the very heavens.”12
Baptist revivalism was born in this revival, and it
continues until this very day in many Baptist churches. Dr.
Drummond stated in his lectures on evangelism at The
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, that because of this
revival the Presbyterians doubled, the Baptist tripled, and the
Methodist quadrupled.13 It is interesting that the Methodist
embraced the most phenomena and had the most growth at the
same time. The power of these meetings was in the deep
conviction, which produced some of the phenomena, and in
the other phenomena that so often accompanies a move of
God, like falling in the Spirit, laughing, shaking, and comatose
like states.
“The word revival came to mean not just renewed
commitment but an intensely affectionate form of religion. It
meant a taste for ecstasy. The physical exercises at Cane Ridge
illustrated the depth of feeling possible within Christianity. For
those affected, the Spirit of God moved through the thickets
and canebrakes with wondrous effects. The third person of the
Trinity took precedence. People felt the power and received the
gifts of the Holy Spirit. They did not always express that power
in traditional ways, in large part because they knew little of
earlier charismatic forms of Christianity. To many, what
happened was nothing less than miraculous – the falling, the
wisdom from the mouths of babes, or more magical, the people
who remained in comas for days with no ill effects (the widely
publicized record was nine days). As far as the records
indicate, no one claimed the power of healing at Cane Ridge
and the forms of ‘miraculous’ speech, the holy laughter or
sounds from deep within the body, took a form other than
glossolalia.”14 It would be another 100 years before healing
and tongues would break forth upon America in a powerful
way.
Cane Ridge affected not just the Baptist, but also many of
the other denominations in America. But often, when God
pours out His Spirit, division results. The Presbyterians would
be split into two denominations due to the Cane Ridge
Blessing. The Cane Ridge Outpouring was too much for some,
and so it was rejected by them.

The Presbyterians and Power Evangelism

Ironically, the tradition out of which the Cane Ridge
Revival began originated with the Scottish Presbyterians.
Presbyterianism is not associated with “revival meetings”
today, but there was a time when they were a people of revival.
Actually, almost all denominations have an initial period of
revival out of which they were born. The Presbyterians had a
prolonged communion service which would culminate once a
year and last for 3-5 days. There had been 5-6 such meetings in
Scotland where the “fire fell” or where God would “light the fire
again”. The “wild meetings,” as they were called, began in
Ulster peaking around 1624. “It was in these Ulster
communions that we first have reports of people fainting dead
away and being carried outside in a trance.”15
The largest and most famous of these meetings was held
at Cambuslang. Estimates of the meetings ran as high as 30,000
people that attended. George Whitefield had just returned from
one of his trips to America, and he preached with great passion
and anointing. “Small groups of people, under deep conviction,
talked all the night. Whitefield preached the thanksgiving
sermon on Monday, after which people were reluctant to leave.
No one could estimate the number of converted. Almost every
conceivable physical exercise, including falling in a swoon,
afflicted some participants. The ministers deplored disruptive
behavior during the services, but in spite of their appeals many
cried out, even during communion, and in later interviews
swore they could not control themselves however much they
tried. . . . But in these three or four waves of revival, the huge
rural gatherings, with all the extreme physical exercises,
dismayed or frightened possibly a majority of Presbyterian
clergymen. ...Cambuslang was the focus of much of the
controversy. Within nine years at least fifty-eight books, plus
endless articles, either praised or condemned it.”16
The local pastor, M’Culloch, developed a questionnaire to
defend what had happened. “The effects on the local
congregation were lasting, although the revival ebbed very
quickly. Conversions continued until 1748, but with annual
decreases. Crimes all but ceased in the immediate aftermath, but
not for long. Approximately four out of five converts remained
in the church for the next decade.17 “Cane Ridge was the next
Cambuslang.”18 The sociologist of religion, Margaret Poloma,
who did the survey in Toronto, which proved the good fruit of
the Toronto Blessing, had her predecessor also. Cambuslang
was the Toronto or Pensacola of its day. How sad it is to think
of the reaction among American Presbyterianism to the Cane
Ridge Revival. Since then there has been no role of the
Presbyterians in revival. But, not every denomination would be
hurt by the Cane Ridge Revival; one of the denominations that
would benefit the most would be the Methodists.

The Methodists and Power Evangelism

John Wesley has been called the “grandfather” of the
Pentecostals. His theology was one of experience. His
emphasis upon a “Second Definite Work of Grace” for
sanctification would make Methodism a revival movement
based upon reception of the power of God. For almost 150
years, Methodism would be the movement of the Spirit par
excellence in North America. But this emphasis upon power
would prove to be divisive over time resulting in a split within
Methodism between those who emphasized the holiness
doctrine of “Sanctification” and those who downplayed it.
Those who continued to emphasize the power aspect of
receiving the Spirit would eventually leave and form new
“Holiness” denominations, and Methodism would eventually
lose its vitality.
One of the great Methodist leaders of the 1800’s was Peter
Cartright. He had been touched in the Cane Ridge Revival, and
was soon converted and called into the ministry. During the
early days of Methodism in this country, it is reported that
many young Methodist circuit riders did not marry because
they knew the statistics were that about 50% would be dead
prior to reaching 30 years old. Peter Cartright was one of the
courageous early circuit riders; one of their most famous
evangelists of that era.
From his autobiography he speaks, “Right here I wish to
say, ...when I consider the insurmountable disadvantages and
difficulties that the early pioneer Methodist preachers labored
under in spreading the Gospel in these Western wilds in the
great valley of the Mississippi, and contrast the disabilities
which surrounded them on every hand, with the glorious
human advantages that are enjoyed by their present
successors, it is confoundingly miraculous to me that our
modern preachers cannot preach better, and do more good than
they do. Many nights, in early times, the itinerant had to camp
out, without fire or food for man or beast. Our pocket Bible,
Hymn Book, and Discipline constituted our library. It is true we
could not, man of us, conjugate a verb or parse a sentence, and
murdered the king’s English almost every lick. But there was a
Divine unction attended the word preached, and thousands fell
under the mighty hand of God, and thus the Methodist
Episcopal Church was planted firmly in this Western
wilderness, and many glorious signs have followed, and will
follow, to the end of time.”19 Peter had been one of the
approximately 2,000 saved as a result of the Cane Ridge
Revival. He came under conviction at Cane Ridge and was
saved shortly afterwards. He would always have a deep
commitment to the powerful ways of the Holy Spirit he first saw
at Cane Ridge.
Cartwright speaks from his autobiography about the
Cumberland Revival that soon followed Cane Ridge. This
revival affected the Presbyterians causing a split. But, it also
had an affect upon the Methodists. “The Predestinarians of
almost all sorts put forth a mighty effort to stop the work of
God. ....Just in the midst of our controversies on the subject of
the powerful exercises among the people under preaching, a
new exercise broke out among us, called the jerks, which was
overwhelming in its effects upon the bodies and minds of the
people. No matter whether they were saints or sinners, they
would be taken under a warm song or sermon, and seized with
a convulsive jerking all over, which they could not by any
possibility avoid, and the more they resisted the more they
jerked. If they would not strive against it and pray in good
earnest, the jerking would usually abate. I have seen more than
five hundred persons jerking at one time in my large
congregations. Most usually, persons taken with the jerks, to
obtain relief, as they said, would rise up and dance. Some
would run, but could not get away. Some would resist; on such
the jerks were generally very severe.”
 “To see those proud young gentlemen and young ladies,
dressed in their silks, jewelry, and prunella, from top to toe, take
the jerks, would often excite my risibilities. The first jerk or so,
you would see their fine bonnets, caps, and combs fly; and so
sudden would be the jerking of the head that their long loose
hair would crack almost as loud as a wagoner’s whip.”20
Regarding this phenomena of the jerks Peter tells of a
large man heading a group of rowdies who had been drinking.
This leader came to the meeting where “The jerks were very
prevalent.” . . . . “This large man cursed the jerks, and all
religion. Shortly afterward he took the jerks, and he started to
run, but he jerked so powerfully he could not get away. He
halted among some saplings, and, although he was violently
agitated, he took out his bottle of whiskey, and swore he would
drink the damned jerks to death; but he jerked at such a rate he
could not get the bottle to his mouth, though he tried hard. At
length he fetched a sudden jerk, and the bottle struck a sapling
and was broken to pieces, and spilled his whiskey on the
ground. There was a great crowd gathered round him, and
when he lost his whiskey he became very much enraged, and
cursed and swore very profanely, his jerks still increasing. At
length a very violent jerk, snapped his neck, fell, and soon
expired, with his mouth full of cursing and bitterness.”21
Cartwright’s interpretation of this phenomena is worthy of
noting. “I always looked upon the jerks as a judgment sent
from God, first, to bring sinners to repentance; and, secondly,
to show professors that God could work with or without
means, and that he could work over and above means, and do
whatsoever seemeth to him good, to the glory of his grace and
the salvation of the world.”22
Revivals often seem to have some things consistent with
the past revivals, and some new phenomena introduced which
causes interest in the general public. Often these phenomena
also produce controversy and division within the churches.
They are demonstrations of power, though not the primary
power of healing and deliverance which are classic signs of
revival in the New Testament church, the first 400 years of
church history, and the history of the most rapid expansion of
the church in the 20th century that would be the fruit of the
Pentecostals. However, when Ananias and Saphira died in
Acts at Peter’s feet, who could not say the power of God was
present. The same would be true on the day of Pentecost when
the disciples were accused of being drunk. This was not
because they were speaking in other languages. I have now
traveled to many countries where I did not know the language,
but never once has someone thought I was drunk because I
was not speaking in their language. Peter even says in Acts
2:33, “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from
the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what
you now see and hear.”
Phenomena have been very much a sign of the power of
God in revivals. It is sad that often when these things are
written up later our church historians often sanitize the
accounts of the meetings, removing the supernatural
dimension that related to the gifts and phenomena of the
Spirit.23 Again, let the most famous Methodist evangelist from
that time give us his appraisal regarding phenomena. “There is
not doubt in my mind that, with weak-minded, ignorant, and
superstitious persons, there was a great deal of sympathetic
feeling with many that claimed to be under the influence of this
jerking exercise; and yet with many, it was perfectly
involuntary. It was, on all occasions, my practice to recommend
fervent prayer as a remedy, and it almost universally proved an
effectual antidote.”
“There were many other strange and wild exercises into
which the subjects of this revival fell; like for instance, as what
was called the running, jumping, barking exercise. The
Methodist preachers generally preached against this
extravagant wildness.”24 Cartwright understood there was real
fire and false fire in the phenomena. He understood some, like
the barking, to cross the line, moving from the Spirit to the
flesh. One of the interpretations I have read of this phenomena
of barking was “treeing the devil.” In one of my readings, I read
that when this occurred there was a breakthrough in a nearby
community for the things of God.
There was one reference to phenomena and Cartwright’s
interpretation of it as a great evil that causes me to wonder if he
was correct in his interpretation of the phenomena as being
evil. He tells of people falling in the meetings or in their homes
and being like in a comatose state for days, sometimes as long
as a week. During this time, they had neither food nor water. He
writes, “... and when they came to, they professed to have seen
heaven and hell, to have seen God, angels, the devil and the
damned; they would prophesy, and, under the pretense of
Divine inspiration, predict the time of the end of the world, and
the ushering in of the great millennium.”25
I too would be very cautious, and not encourage these
prophecies regarding the end of the world, but the other
visions I am not sure I would have seen as an evil, but possibly
valid. I say this because prior to the great Argentine revival of
1954 a young woman named Anni fell into trances and saw
God, and things in the future that she told, which did happen in
the Argentine revival.26 There was also a great revival in China
among children, where the children would go into trances and
saw visions of heaven; this is recorded in the book, Visions
Beyond the Veil. Children going into trances and seeing angels
and heaven also happened at Metro Christian Fellowship in
Kansas City where Mike Bickel pastors.27 Furthermore, there
have been “saints” in the Roman Catholic Church who had
such experiences. Protestants, especially Pentecostals, have
also had leaders and people who had visions or trances,
though there are few reports of being out for such long periods
as several days.

How prevalent were some of these phenomena during the

early 1800’s? Vinson Synan states, “A responsible student of
these phenomena has estimated that by 1805 over half of all the
Christians of Kentucky had exhibited these ‘motor
phenomena’” These traits were called by some, “Methodist
fits.”28 How prevalent were these phenomena outside of
Kentucky? “From Kentucky the revivalistic flame spread over
the entire South, reaching into Tennessee, North and South
Carolina, Western Virginia, and Georgia. In most places, the
same phenomena were repeated. In some areas, another
manifestation was reported in addition to those already
described. In the revival that hit the University of Georgia in
1800-1801, students visited nearby campgrounds and were
themselves smitten with the ‘jerks’ and ‘talking in unknown
tongues.’
They swooned away and lay for hours in the straw
prepared for those ‘smitten of the Lord,’ or they started
suddenly to flee away and fell prostrate as if shot down by a
sniper, or they took suddenly to jerking with apparently every
muscle in their body until it seemed they would be torn to
pieces or converted into marble, or they shouted and talked in
unknown tongues.
From 1800 until the present day such phenomena have
accompanied in some degree most major revivals, regardless of
denomination or doctrine.”29
Now you have seen how power evangelism, a
demonstration of God’s Spirit and power, birthed the major
denominations in America. We have examined the ministries of
John Wesley and George Whitefield and the First Great
Awakening. This Awakening was the catalyst to brith the
Baptists, the Presbyterians, and the Methodists. We must
return to our roots!

[1] Clare George Weakley Jr, The Nature of Revival: John

Wesley, Charles Wesley & George Whitefield (Minneapolis,
Minnesota; Bethany House Publishers, 1987,) p.79
[2] Ibid. p. 83

[3] Ibid. pp. 84-85

[4] See my booklet, Falling Under the Power, for a study of the
biblical, historical, and present accounts of this phenomena. I
believe one of the reason the crowds came to Wesley’s
meetings were the phenomena. God seems to use phenomena
as his advertising campaign for revival. That is why the
particular phenomena vareies from revival to revival.

[5] op. cit, Weakley, p. 85-86. cf. pp. 138-139 for the account of
26 who manifested demons and some were delivered.

[6] Ibid. p. 140

[7] George Whitefield, George Whitefield’s Journals, (Carlisle,

Pa., Banner of Truth Trust, 1960 edition,) p. 263

[8] John Havlik and Lewis Drummond, How Spiritual

Awakenings Happen, (Nashville, Tn., The Sunday School
Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1981,) p.15

[9] Global Awakening has just republished this book in its

entirety without editing anything out of it. The book was
published by the North China Baptist Publishing House. It is
the first hand report of one of the Southern Baptist
missionaries who experienced the revival, Mary Crawford. In it
are many accounts of almost everything that has been
characteristic of the Toronto Revival, and the Pensacola
Outpouring. It is very sad that few Southern Baptists are not
aware of what happened during their greatest revival. Several
years ago the book was reprinted by the Southern Baptist, and
was edited by Dr. Culpepper. What is interesting was the
editing out of almost all of the phenomena of the Holy Spirit.
This book should be a gift to all Southern Baptists who desire
more of the presence of God in their lives. To order the
unedited version call (314) 416-9239 the office of Global
Awakening.

[10] op.cit. Havlik and Drummond, p. 22

[11] Ibid. p.23

[12] Lewis Drummond, The Awakening That Must Come,

(Nashville, Tn., Broadman Press, 1978,) p. 17

[13] Notes from my class with Dr. Drummond. I have to admit

that Dr. Lewis Drummond had a profound impact and influence
upon me to have a great hunger to experience revival.

[14] Paul k. Conkin, Cane Ridge: America’s Pentecost,

(Madison, Wisconsin; The University of Wisconsin Press,
1990), p. 173.

[15] Ibid. p. 19.

[16] Ibid. p. 23

[17] Ibid. p. 24
[18] Ibid. p. 25

[19] Charles L. Wallis, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright,

(Nashville, Tn., Abingdon Press, 1856) p.12.

[20] Ibid. p. 45

[21] Ibid. p. 46

[22] Ibid. p. 46

[23] See Jack Deere’s book, Surprised by the Voice of God

where he documents how the Reformed denominations
removed the prophetic dimension from their earliest writings. I
have also mentioned how the Southern Baptist did the same
thing in the reprinting of The Shantung Revival that had edited
almost every supernatural reference to phenomena such as
falling, laughing in the Spirit, shaking, feeling electricity going
through the body, etc. I have reprinted the book in its entirety
and can be purchased by calling 314-416-9239. It is a powerful
read of the greatest revival in Southern Baptist history.

[24] Op. cit. Cartwright, p. 46

[25] Ibid. p. 47

[26] See the book, Cry For Me Argentina: Revival begins in

City Bell,, by Dr. R. Edward Miller (This book is now out of
print, but can be purchased through our office.

[27] We had the leaders come to our church and share with us
about the children’s experiences in the late 1980’s or the early
1990’s; I can’t remember the exact dates.

[28] Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement In

The United States, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm. B. Erdmans
Pub. Co., 1971) p. 24

[29] Ibid. p.25

Chapter 6: Sovereign Visitation of
God

We are now going to look specifically at the ministry of

Charles Finney and his ministry. I want to quote extensively
from his autobiography, to show you that the man of God was
touched by the power of God. And also, I want you to see how
God continued to use him with signs and wonders to see
people come to the Lord.

Charles Finney’s Witness and Baptism in the

Spirit
Dr. Lewis Drummond, my professor of evangelism at the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, once stated that he felt
Finney was the most powerful evangelist in the history of
America. Finney’s autobiography is full of power encounters
and experiences of power. It has been stated that his book on
Revival is too mechanical, and has no place for the sovereignty
of God in it. Another perspective is that Finney realized that he
was living in one of those sovereign moments in history when
a Divine visitation was occurring. In such periods, there is a
release of great faith that God will move; that God has
sovereignly chosen this time in history to pour out His Spirit.
 I came to this perspective as a result of the outpouring of
the Spirit in Toronto in 1994. I had already been in the ministry
for nearly 24 years when Toronto began. There was such a
difference in the anointing during an outpouring, a revival
visitation, which I could have been misunderstood in some of
my very certain statements about what God was going to do. It
wasn’t that I had forgotten the issue of sovereignty, rather it
was the understanding that I was now living in one of those
most special moments in history when God had chosen to visit
His people with His presence, power, and presents. How much
more than I did Finney understand this concept of living in the
“day of visitation?”
Finney was converted as God sovereignly moved upon
his heart. He sought God in the woods for hours, seeking
forgiveness and pardon. The Scripture promises regarding
such pardon were of great help to him at this time. The evening
of the day he was converted, he was also baptized in the Holy
Spirit. Listen to his words,
“. . . and as I closed the door and turned around, my heart
seemed to be liquid within me. All my feelings seemed to rise
and flow out; and the utterance of my heart was, “I want to
pour my whole soul out to God.” The rising of my soul was so
great that I rushed into the room back of the front office, to
pray.
There was no fire, and no light, in the room; nevertheless
it appeared to me as if it were perfectly light. As I went in and
shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus
Christ face to face. It did not occur to me then, nor did it for
some time afterward, that it was wholly a mental state. On the
contrary, it seemed to me that I saw him as I would see any
other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner
as to break me right down at his feet. I have always since
regarded this as a most remarkable state of mind; for it seemed
to me a reality, that he stood before me, and I fell down at his
feet and poured out my soul to him. I wept aloud like a child,
and made such confessions as I could with my choked
utterance. It seemed to me that I bathed his feet with my tears;
and yet I had no distinct impression that I touched him, that I
recollect.
I must have continued in this state for a good while; but
my mind was too much absorbed with the interview to recollect
anything that I said. But I know, as soon as my mind became
calm enough to break off from the interview, I returned to the
front office, and found that the fire that I had made of large
wood was nearly burned out. But as I turned and was about to
take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy
Ghost. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the
thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me,
without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing
mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit
descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me,
body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of
electricity, going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to
come in waves and waves of liquid love for I could not express
it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can
recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense
wings.
No words can express the wonderful love that was shed
abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do
not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the
unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me,
and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recollect I
cried out, ‘I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.’ I
said, ‘Lord, I cannot bear nay more;’ yet I had no fear of
death.”1
We should desire nothing less that what Charles Finney
had! Perhaps the reason that so many came to the Lord in his
lifetime was the degree of power encounters that he had with
the Holy Spirit. Let us hunger and thirst for the same degree of
anointing – and even more!

[1] 52 Charles Finney, Charles G. Finney: An Autobiography,

(Old Tappan, N.J., Fleming H. Revell Company, 1876, renewed
1908) pp. 20-21
Chapter 7: Power Evangelism
Prophetic Voices from Unexpected Places

Sometimes God speaks from the most unlikely sources.

We often times look for God to talk through those within our
own stream or denomination. But He loves his whole body and
speaks through many places. In this chapter I want to quote a
Ralph Martin and Harvey Cox, who, I believe, are speaking
prophetically to our generation. Let us heed the voice of the
Lord in this day.

Ralph Martin: Roman Catholic Leader

Speaks Prophetically to the Church
One of the most powerful books I have read recently
compares the author’s denomination with the Pentecostals.
Being one of the most honest works that I’ve ever read, and I
would hope other denominational leaders would be as honest
in recognizing the warning sign. I hope they would focus their
movement or denomination towards asking, “Why have the
Pentecostals, who are the primary exponents of power
evangelism been so successful?”1
Ralph Martin noted that by 1982, the Pentecostal
churches (not including the charismatics who have remained in
traditional denominations) had become the largest body of
Protestants; larger than the Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterian
or Methodist churches. This was even more surprising when
you consider that the mainline churches had a history of about
400 years while the Pentecostals history was only about 80
years. Only the Roman Catholic Church has a larger following.2
Martin, further notes that
“By 1992 the numbers of Pentecostals and charismatics
had grown to over 410 million and now comprised 24.2 percent
of world Christianity. . . My research has led me to make this
bold statement: In all of human history, no other non-political,
non-militaristic, voluntary human movement has grown as
rapidly as the Pentecostal-charismatic movement in the last 25
years.”3
After Ralph Martin gives charts of the phenomenal
growth during the past decade of the Pentecostal-Charismatics
in contrast to the growth of the Roman Catholic and historic
Protestant denominations, and after giving much information
about the decline of the influence of the Catholic Church in
society he makes the following powerful insightful statement.
“... there is a message to which we need to pay attention. That
message, in its simplest form, perhaps could be stated like this:
When Jesus is proclaimed clearly and confidently, in the power
of the Holy Spirit, many more people come to faith and there is
much more growth to the Church than when he is not.”4
I have read few books where there is such a spirit of
repentance than Ralph Martin’s book, The Catholic Church at
the End of an Age: What the Spirit is Saying. How I wish other
churches had prophets who spoke so clearly to them. Listen to
the closing summary of chapter 5 “The Church, Repentance
and Faith”,
 “What might the Spirit be saying to the Catholic Church?
A message as old and new as the day of Pentecost: Repent,
believe, and you too will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:38). Let us repent of any ways in which we have
narrowed God, or limited him, in our thoughts, words, or
actions. Let us repent of any ways we have obscured the
central place of Jesus and put secondary things in his place.
Let us repent of that ‘eccclesio-centrism’ that puts the Church
in the place of Christ. Let us repent of any ways we have
grieved the Holy Spirit and through our pride or fear resisted
his workings.”5
If the Roman Catholic Church has a lot more people in it
with Ralph Martin’s spirit, then I believe that it will see a great
revival and become a prominent figure in the coming harvest.
What is the prophetic voice of Ralph Martin saying not just to
the Roman Catholic Church, but also to the Church at large, the
other churches? He is saying the harvest is upon us now. We
do not have time to continue as we have been. We must
humble ourselves, repent of our wrongs as church bodies, and
embrace the full ministry of the Holy Spirit with all His gifts.
“The church is a bride, and she shows to the world that
her spouse is alive by living by his power and receiving life
from him. There is a danger in our day that the church will look
more like a widow, alone and without resources except those
possessed by any human organization. If we yield to what the
Lord has poured out upon us - his Spirit-the world will know
that the church is truly the spouse of a living Lord.”6
I agree with Ralph, and I want to honor him as a prophetic
voice to the Roman Catholic Church and the Church. But Ralph
is not the only prophetic voice speaking to us today from
strange places, for evangelicals and Pentecostals to expect God
to speak prophetically.

Harvey Cox: Fire From Heaven

Harvey Cox spoke and wrote in the 60’s what he thought
was predictive, but time proved him to have been wrong.
Harvey Cox is the “Victor Thomas Professor of Religion at
Harvard University, is the author of more than ten books,
including the best-selling classic, The Secular City.” That is
how he is described on the back of his new book, Fire From
Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping
of Religion in the Twenty-first Century.
The irony is that the predictions made in The Secular City
failed to come about. The culture of the world had not become
more secular, rather it has become more spiritual, though not
always more Christian. Post-modern thought has rejected the
closed worldview of the secular city and has embraced a world
closer to the worldview of the first century than probably any
other century in the last 500 years. Fire From Heaven is the
admission of having been wrong by professor Cox, but, it is
more than that. Where the Secular City thought that
Christianity would not be able to hold the city causing the
growing metropolises to become increasingly more secular, Fire
From Heaven is the study of why Pentecostal and Charismatic
churches have thrived in the city context. When the Secular
City was written Harvey Cox was noting the demise of the
institutional church in the changing neighborhoods of the city.
He was noting the death of large older mainline churches;
therefore, he concluded the church would lose the cities of the
world. The problem was not seeing how God would raise up
out of weakness the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements,
and through their weakness reveal His strength.
Let us allow Harvey Cox to speak for himself.
THE SIGNS AND WONDERS that appeared at Azusa
Street and in the global movement it loosed included far more
than speaking in tongues. People danced, leaped, and laughed
in the Spirit, received healings, fell into trances, and felt
themselves caught up into a transcendent sphere. In
retrospect, we can also describe the revival as the principal
point in western history at which the pulsating energy of
African American spirituality, wedded by years of suffering to
the Christian promise of the Kingdom of God, leaped across the
racial barrier and became fused with similar motifs in the
spirituality of poor white people. It marked the breaking of the
barrier that western civilization had so carefully erected
between the cognitive and the emotional sides of life, between
rationality and symbol, between the conscious and
unconscious strata of the mind. In this context, the mixing of
the races was not just an early equal opportunity program. It
had powerful archetypal significance as well. It presaged a new
world in which both the outer and the inner divisions of
humankind would be abolished, and it was the harbinger of one
of the great surprises of the twentieth century, the massive and
unanticipated resurgence of religion in a century many had
thought would witness its withering away.7
Harvey Cox didn’t realize the power of the Pentecostal
churches to change a city. In his opinion, the Azusa Street
revival that came in the early 1900’s, was going to bring a
power so great that could change a city from becoming more
secular to becoming more spiritual. Though it seems like the
cities are getting darker, God is releasing a power through His
church the world has never seen before. Let us open our eyes
to see this power being revealed in our day and hour.

[1] Ralph Martin, The Catholic Church at the End of an Age:

What is the Spirit Saying?, (San Francisco, California, Ignatius
Press,1994) pp.30,

[2] Ibid. p. 86

[3] Ibid. p. 87

[4] Ibid. p. 118 (Italics his)

[5] Ibid. p. 164

[6] Ibid. pp. 198-199 (Bold emphasis mine)

[7] Harvey Cox, Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal

Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First
Century, (New York, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1994) pp.
99-100
 Chapter 8: A World Tour of
Church Growth and Power
Evangelism

In this chapter I want to share some stories for you from

my personal travels around the world. I want to take you
throughout the different continents of the world to show you
the relationship between signs and wonders and the growth of
the church. We are interested in world evangelization: that is
God’s purpose for the earth. As I said before and I’ll say it
again, the church grows the fastest where the greatest signs
and wonders are being manifested. It is especially the
demonstrations of healings and deliverances that draw the
unsaved to the church.

Africa
On the continent of Africa, there are over 5,000
independent Christian denominations, all born in the 20th
century, and all of Pentecostal spirituality. They are growing
faster than Islam, twice as fast as the Roman Catholic Church,
and three times as fast as the non-Catholic and non-
Pentecostal churches. In South Africa, they embrace 40% of
the black population, in Zimbabwe 50% of all Christians, and
“by the year 2,000 these churches will include more members in
Africa than either the Roman Catholic Church or all the
Protestant denominations put together.”1 The largest church in
the world isn’t pastored by David Yonngi Cho; it was founded
by Simon Kimbangu. He started his church in 1921, and today
it has over 8,000,000 members.2 He was imprisoned because of
the success of this work, and he spent the last 30 years of his
life in prison. The church grew faster after his imprisonment
than before.
Why have these churches been so successful is a
complex question, but if you ask what one factor drew the
people to first attend one of these churches, the answer is
healing. “Kofi Appiah-Kubi is a Ghanaian who has written
extensively on the new Christian churches of Africa. . . Error!
No table of figures entries found.. Most of all, these
indigenous Christian churches provide a setting in which the
African conviction that spirituality and healing belong together
is dramatically enacted. The typical disciple comes to such a
church for the first time in search of healing, usually for a
malady that has resisted either traditional or modern medicine
or both.”3
Several years ago, in the early 1990’s I had Pastor Dion
Robert, from Abidjan, Ivory Coast to come to St. Louis to
speak for me. His church at that time numbered over 20,000
people and was still growing rapidly. His ministry is noted for
its signs and wonders, healings, miracles, and deliverances. I
believe it is perhaps the largest church in the Franco speaking
world. It too, is a cell church that teaches the people in the cells
to expect to see the miraculous. They had a cell of teens that
prayed for a dead person who was brought back to life. Today
the church runs over 100,000.

Europe
England is an example of what is occurring on the
continent of Europe. A survey on what happened in the growth
of the churches between 1985 and 1990 indicated that the
Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Roman
Catholics had all lost members in the United Kingdom. The
Catholics and the Anglicans had the greatest losses down by
10% in five years. During the same time frame, the independent
churches comprised mostly of Pentecostal and Charismatic
churches, had grown by 30%.4 It is interesting to note that the
largest average attendance and fastest growing Anglican
Church in England is Holy Trinity Brompton, which is very
open to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, believes in healing and
deliverance, and was powerfully touched by the Toronto
Blessing. At one point in 1994, the lines were so long to get
into the church that tickets were given out to allow people to
get into the church. Recently while in England, I saw a
television report about the largest church in England that was
predominately black and Pentecostal in practice. It is clear that
the people are hungry for a God who is seen to have power to
help them in their needs.
When I was meeting with the church planting groups in
European Russia, in Moscow, almost everyone of the major
successful church planting groups were excited about and
open to healing and deliverance. We went back months later to
do a conference on healing and deliverance, cell group
ministry, and contemporary worship. There were many
healings, and when we went back a year later, we heard more
testimonies of healing from those young church planters.
Power evangelism is working in Europe. In almost all of
Scandinavia, the largest churches are those that embrace signs
and wonders, healings, miracles, deliverances, and the gifts of
the Spirit.

Asia
On the continent of Asia, the largest churches in most of
the nations are Pentecostal or Charismatic. The Full Gospel
Church pastored by David Yonngi Cho in Korea, has over
800,000 members. It is the world’s largest church when
understood as a single congregation meeting in one place.
Others in Africa are larger, but instead of multiple services in
one building, they have multiple locations throughout the city
or country. Healing has always played a major role in Cho’s
church. Spiritual warfare through prayer has also been a key
factor in the success of this church5
In Thailand, Dr. Kriengsak has founded the largest church
in the nation and has planted over 100 churches, in one of the
most gospel resistant countries of the world, the Hope of
Bangkok Church. The church has over 6,000 members in a
country that professes only 60,000 Christians, but on a given
Sunday only about 20,000 attend church.
 Thailand has a population where 95% profess to be
Buddhist, and 4% profess to be Islamic; yet in this gospel
resistant country the Hope of Bangkok Church is growing
rapidly. His church is committed to cell groups, friendship
evangelism, expository preaching, church planting by teams,
and the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit. “One of the
outstanding features in the ministry of Dr. Kriengsak and the
Hope of God movement, has been the seal of approval the Holy
Spirit has given in the realm of the miraculous. . . . The gifts of
the Spirit most evident in Kriengsak’s life were the word of
knowledge, and gifts of healing and miracles. . . . Through
zealous friendship evangelism and active advertising, special
events are always well attended, but as the people have seen
miraculous healings take place, there has been a greater
openness to hearing the preaching of the gospel that
followed.”6 Like Omar Cabrerra and Carlos Annacondia of
Argentina, Dr. Kriengsak believes the time he spends in prayer
prior to major evangelistic campaigns has a tremendous affect
upon the level of the supernatural he sees in those meetings.
In Singapore, Dr. Lawrence Kong pastors one of the
largest Baptist Churches in the world. It too is committed to cell
groups and has planted many other churches. It is also
committed to allowing the ministry of the Holy Spirit to occur in
their services and cell groups. Also from Singapore is an
Anglican Church that runs in the thousands. It is Anglican by
denominational affiliation, but it is open to the gifts of the Holy
Spirit and the ministry of healing and deliverance, which is the
heart of power evangelism. This church is, The Church of Our
Savior, whose vicar is Rev. Derek Hong, and where the Bishop
Most Reverend Moses Tay is stationed. I have ministered
personally in this church, and know the strong desire in Rev.
Hong to see an increase in the power of God to heal the sick is
very evident.
By far the fastest growing churches on the sub-continent
of India are those churches that are open to healing and
deliverances. One church that began in Bombay now has
scores of thousands who belong to it. This is a church made
up of house churches of which Pastor Joseph is the leader.

Australia
It is the same on the continent of Australia. The
Pentecostals with their openness to power evangelism are the
fastest growing church movement on the continent. This past
summer I spoke in Sydney, Australia at the New Life Church,
an Assembly of God church where Frank Houston was the
pastor. His church has planted daughter churches all
throughout Sydney. They run over 2,000 on Sunday mornings,
but if you include the daughter churches, the attendance of
Assemblies in Sydney would be over 10,000 – all of which
would be the result of Frank’s ministry. Frank is a lover of the
supernatural. When I was there, he wanted me to speak on
healing, which I did. The atmosphere was full of faith and
scores of healings occurred as well as scores of deliverances.
Ralph Martin includes some statistics for Australia
decadal growth rates from 1976 through 1981: the United
Church -10%, Anglican 5%, Churches of Christ 8%, Lutheran
10%, Roman Catholic 24%, Baptist 24%, Pentecostal 385%. By
far, New Zealand for the period 1971-1981 was the worst:
Methodist -19%, Presbyterian -11%, Anglican -9%, Roman
Catholic 2% Baptist 6% Associated Pentecostal 150%.7

South America
On the continent of South America, I can speak from
personal experience. In 1997, I went to Santiago, Chile where I
visited the Templo Centro Metropolitano, pastored by
Fernando Chaparros. It was over 10,000 people and was the
second largest church in the nation. It was only a few years
old, and had goals to be 15,000 by the end of the year. This was
a church that emphasized healing and deliverance, pastored by
a former police officer. When I ministered there, we saw many
healings and deliverances. We were there to train more on the
healing and deliverance ministry, and to bring renewal.
Roger Cunningham, a Vineyard pastor who loves power
evangelism, told me while I was visiting him in Chile that he
had been working most of his time the past year with the
Baptist Churches of Chile who were hungry to learn more
about power evangelism.
In 1997, I spent two weeks in South America in Chile,
Argentina, and Uruguay. During the 14 days we were there, we
saw about 2,000 healed, hundreds saved, and scores delivered.
One of Omar’s churches in the city of Cordoba met in an old
barn like building for the meetings. We saw 800 people give
testimony to being healed in one meeting, including a woman
who had been blind for three years due to retina being
destroyed from diabetes. The night before another woman was
healed of deafness and blindness on one side of her head. The
pastor told me if we could stay, the crowds would grow to over
10,000. I made a mistake and left to honor other commitments,
but I wish I had stayed. Most of the time was spent ministering
in Omar Cabrerra’s church that is over 80,000 and meets in over
200 congregations in many cities in Argentina. His churches
were the easiest churches I have ever ministered in for healing,
until I went to Brazil and the Ukraine. They had been founded
on Omar’s healing and miracle anointing; the people
understood the word of knowledge’s relationship to healing,
and were full of faith.
While in Argentina, I met the co-pastors of the Central
Baptist Church of Buenos Aries, Drs. Pablo Deiros, and Carlos
Mrarida. Since the recent visitation of the Spirit in their church,
it has seen more church plants and people go into the ministry
during the last four years than the church had sent out in over
100 years preceding the visitation of the Spirit. It is important
to note that the visitation was characterized by falling,
laughing, shaking, healing, and deliverance. Their church was
the second church in the city to receive the fresh anointing of
the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Deiros told me that about 70% of the Baptist churches
in Argentina were now embracing the ministry of healing and
deliverance. Victor Lorenzo, son of Eduardo Lorenzo, a most
influential leader among Baptists in Argentina, told me that the
Baptist had to move from their former opposition to the gifts of
the Spirit or they were going to lose their people to the
Pentecostals.
The Iglesia Rey de Reyes (King of Kings Church)
pastored by Claudio Freidzon has grown from 6 to over 8,000
after God anointed Claudio, an Assembly of God pastor, with a
fresh anointing for healing and power evangelism. I have both
visited and preached in his church. It has an atmosphere of
expectation for the presence of God to visit the church and
touch the people with healing, deliverance, and refreshing
anointing of joy and peace. The phenomena of being slain in
the Spirit is very common in this church.
I visited and spoke in Guillermo Prein’s church in Buenos
Aries as well, that has an attendance of over 3,000. It was
founded by having healing and deliverance meetings in a very
dangerous park in the city. Now they have meetings 21 times
per week, even a service at 3:00 a.m. for the Taxi cab drivers.
This church has the reputation of the most healings occurring
during their services. The interesting phenomena is that over
60% of them occur when the children 12 and younger pray for
them. While waiting for the Sr. Pastor to arrive, I met another
pastor whose only job was to verify the miracles. I asked this
associate, “So what do you do?” He said, “My job is to verify
the miracles.” I asked, “What else?” He responded, “My job is
to verify the miracles.” One of the verifications that they have
is of a woman, who had a hysterectomy, she was prayed for by
the children, and now she has given birth to a child. She
received a creative miracle!
Pastor Michael Richardson received his D.Min. degree
from Fuller Theological Seminary. His dissertation was on the
Argentine Revival. I heard him share that from the Argentine
Revival a new theology came into being relating to strategic
level spiritual warfare. This practice is common among both
Pentecostal-charismatic churches and non-Pentecostal-
charismatic churches. SLSW is another form of power
evangelism. Some would say it has been foundational to the
success of the Argentine Revival. Because of the success in
SLSW, there are more healings, miracles, deliverances, and
salvations than if they don’t do SLSW.
In Uruguay, a country that had not had a Protestant
church grow past 500, I met Pastor Jorge Marquez who pastors
a church in Montevideo. The church, only being a few years
old, has 3,000 people in attendance. When I asked him how he
had planted the church and why it had been successful in
reaching the masses he told me that through advertising it had
been built on promising healing and deliverance. They were
able to deliver on that promise. He had almost had a physical
breakdown from the late night deliverances he had done. There
were now six young pastors helping him with the 28 preaching
services per week. All of who had been addicted to drugs
and/or alcohol, and needed deliverance when he first met them.
He also told me that key Baptist leaders were also very open to
the ministry of signs and wonders in Montevideo. Jorge, had
been an architect and who left his profession in Argentina to
start the church in Montevideo. He had been discipled in
Hector Giminez’s church that had an attendance of over 100,000
when Jorge was a member. This church at that time ran services
23 hours per day 7 days per week.
 Brazil is a nation powerfully affected by power
evangelism. The Assemblies of God denomination is growing
rapidly and numbers between 11 to 15 million members. Though
it is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations, it is only one
of hundreds of new Pentecostal denominations. I personally
have ministered in the largest Baptist Church in the nation, the
Lagoinia Igrasia Batista, in Belo Horizonte. This Baptist Church
has over 30,000 members and is the mother church of a new
association of Baptist churches that is growing much faster
than the older Baptist Association that was begun by
missionaries from the Southern Baptist denomination of the
United States. The pastor believes and practices strategic level
spiritual warfare, has a strong emphasis on healing and
deliverance, a strong ministry to the poor, and is involved in
the cell ministry that is so prominent in Brazil. There are other
churches, which are fast growing, that began as Baptist but are
no longer Baptist today.
Apostle Hene Terre-Nove pastors the fastest growing
church in Brazil, which is the largest church in Brazil. This
church was running 21,000 members when I first ministered in it
and three years later (2003), it was running 48,000 members. It
used to be called the First Baptist Church of Manouse, but it
was disfellowshiped from the traditional Baptist Association 10
years ago when it had 700 members; now its name is
Restoration.
Two years ago, I ministered in a very poor small traditional
Baptist church in the city of Mauve, Brazil. The power of God
to heal and deliver was present. Two years later when we
returned to the city we were shocked to find out the small
Baptist church was now the largest church in the city. It had
grown from a few hundred to over 3,000 people in two years. It
had embraced renewal (Toronto Blessing), healing, deliverance,
and had changed to the G-12 cell system. It had also been
disfellowshiped from the traditional Baptist denomination, and
was now part of the G-12 movement that is overseen in Brazil
by Apostle Hene Tere-Nove.
The Baptist denomination is not the only denomination
affected by the recent renewal called the Toronto Blessing. (In
order to put things in perspective the reader needs to
understand that I went to see Rodney Howard-Browne, not to
laugh, but to receive a new impartation for healing. I did this
because after asking my personal friend about the fruit in his
life after being ministered to by Rodney, he told me that he had
seen more healing since the two weeks being ministered to by
Rodney, than he had seen in the previous nine years). The
largest Anglican Church in Brazil is in Receife, Brazil. The
pastor, Paulo Garcia, a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Seminary,
in Deerfield, Illinois, told me that he was so touched in Toronto
that he received back his first love for Jesus. His church was
seeing 50 saved every Sunday, 200 more saved every six weeks
after a small group experience, and the church, which was the
Cathedral for the Anglican denomination in the city, had also
planted 12 other mission churches since his being touched in
Toronto. We were invited in to teach on healing, deliverance,
and renewal.
I was invited to preach in a new denomination, Videra,
about three years ago, in 2000. When I then ministered in the
mother church of this new denomination all heaven broke
loose. Many were healed. The church had already been a fast
growing church utilizing a concept of “The Church in Cells,”
which is much more than a church with cells. In three years the
church had grown to 3,000. But, in the next two years, it grew
to 8,000. In September 2003, the church’s goal was to baptize in
the center of the city in an open baptismal swimming pool in
the public square 3,000 new converts. They had fasted, prayed,
worshiped, and believed for 3,000 souls to be added. They
reached their purpose by baptizing 3,000 in one day.
When I asked them the fruit of our ministry in the life of
the church the pastoral staff responded, “Before you came we
were a strong, good church noted for its teaching ministry, but
we were not a balanced church. We had the word, but we did
not have the appropriate emphasis upon the Spirit. That is why
we had you come and train us. Before you came, we almost
never saw anyone healed. During the last year since you came
we have not had a Sunday go by without someone being
healed, we have not had a week go by without someone also
being healed in one of our cell groups. Our church has been
changed.” The last time I ministered in this church (September
2003) we saw 7 blind people healed in one night. I only prayed
for one of the seven, the other six were prayed for by members
of my team and members of the church’s ministry team, which
we had trained the year before. One member of my team prayed
for three of those blind that night who were healed, and the
pastor, Aloisio prayed for two of them. These were the first
blind people he had ever prayed for in his life who were healed.
During the last three years, we have seen over 70,000
healings in our meetings in Brazil. It is a nation on fire with
revival. C. Peter Wagner said that the epicenter of revival has
switched during the past few years from Korea to Brazil. Every
church that I am aware of that is growing rapidly has strongly
embraced the ministry of healing and deliverance.
This rapid growth of the Church in Brazil stems from the
ministry of two men who brought the Pentecostal message to
Brazil at the early part of the 20th century. Today scholars
believe there are more Pentecostals at church on Sunday than
there are Roman Catholics attending mass.
A similar picture is emerging all over Latin America. In his
book, Is Latin America Turning Protestant? David Stoll pulls
together statistics from a number of sources to show that non-
Catholic Christianity is growing in many of the continent’s
countries at five or six times the rate of the general population.
If the statistics in Brazil are any indication, 90 percent of this
non-Catholic increase is Pentecostal. Stoll predicts that if
current rates of growth continue, five or six Latin American
countries will have non-Catholic – mostly Pentecostal –
majorities by 2010. In several other nations, the non-Catholic
percentage of the population will have reached 30-40 percent.8
Colombia is the ripest nation for revival in the Western
Hemisphere in my opinion. I consider myself a God Chaser.9
But, while I was in Argentina meeting with leaders of the
revival, I was told by one of the leaders that the real revival is
in Colombia, “Where they are still killing the pastors.” One of
the leaders of an apostolic network of churches in Colombia
later attended one of our meetings in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
There he went through a deliverance and experienced a
powerful new anointing of the Spirit. He invited the pastor to
come to Colombia and myself, but I couldn’t go. Pastor Charles
Stock of New Life Church, in Harrisburg went and had a
powerful experience, especially regarding evangelism. He
warned me prior to my trip that I would think they didn’t
understand the gospel invitation so many would accept the
invitation. He was right. We saw 454 people commit to Christ
for the first time in their lives, 1750 rededicated from
backslidden conditions, almost 1200 healed and over 350 go for
deliverance. The deliverance ministry only occurred in two of
the 16 meetings in 10 days. I did think that they misunderstood
the invitation, but they hadn’t. The meetings were held in
Bogota, Medillin, and Cali. The president of the ministerial
alliance in Cali asked me to come back and speak to the pastors
in the day and the stadium, which seats 55,000 at night. Dr.
Deiros, one of the most respected Baptist scholars and leaders
from Argentina and I were planning to work together in
Colombia during 1999.
In January 1999, my team met with Pastor Cesar
Castellanos. He was born into the Kingdom of God through
hearing the audible voice of God, and then experiencing His
presence come into his room. His church experiences healings
and they have an “encounter weekend” for the new believers
where they are taken through inner healing and deliverance,
receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the vision for the
church. They don’t know exactly how many people are in the
church at this time; they only count the number of groups not
the individuals. He now has a church of 27,000 cell groups that
have an average of 10 or more people per group. He and his
wife were shot in an assignation attempt. While recuperating
for eleven months the church grew by 100,000 while being led
by the youth pastor. This is the fastest growing church in the
Western Hemisphere. They believe in spiritual warfare through
prayer, dancing, praise, fasting, and intercessory prayer. Their
services are powerful, and healings usually occur in them.
Caesar believes in receiving from the Lord in his prayer life
what He wants to occur in the services. They will be meeting
three times per Sunday in the coliseum of Bogota.

Central America
In Guatemala, the El Shaddai Church, pastored by Harold
Cabelleros, now runs over 8,000. It is one of several churches
in Guatemala that numbers in the thousands. It is one of the
fastest growing churches in the country. It too believes in and
practices healing, deliverances, and other demonstrations of
God’s power, both in the services and in the cell groups. Pastor
Harold also believes that the growth of the church is related to
the strategic level spiritual warfare that is practiced by selected
individuals of the church.
My friend, and fellow evangelist/revivalist, Wes Cambell,
has preached for the Catholics in Mexico where scores of
thousands of Catholics come to a mountain to have open-air
meetings led by a Roman Catholic Priest. What brings the
thousands to the meetings? The presence of the power of the
Holy Spirit demonstrated in signs and wonders.
Drs. Deiros and Mrarida along with Pastor Pablo Bottari
(who was the trainer for the deliverance ministry for Evangelist
Carlos Annacondia who has led over 3,000,000 people to the
Lord this past decade) and myself planned to go to Cuba in the
fall of 1999. We were told by the overseer for Latin America for
the Pentecostal Holiness Church in the United States, that the
Methodist of Cuba were more Pentecostal than the Pentecostal
churches in the United States. He told us that 80% of the
Methodist in Cuba were Pentecostal in experience.10 The
meetings will be jointly attended, only by pastors from
Methodist, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches.

North America
North America along with Western Europe has long been
considered by some to be the Nazareth of the Church world.
We are a nation of skeptics, and proud of it. Regardless of the
evangelist that I have spoken with, I hear the same report; they
do not see the same degree of healing and miracles here that
they do in other non-western countries. I long for the day
when that is no longer true. Yet, in spite of this, those churches
that are open to the presence of God’s Spirit and his gifts are
growing faster as a whole than those that are not open. But of
course, there are exceptions. Though I have been emphasizing
the growth of movements as a sign of the ability of the
movement to draw people, I realize it does not vindicate the
group as an orthodox Christian group. Heresies can grow fast
also. The following chart indicates just this truth with the
second fastest group being the Mormon cult.
In a study of churches in the U.S. and Canada between
1965 and 1989 the following was reported: Disciples of Christ
-45%, Presbyterian -32%, Episcopal -29%, United Church -21%,
United Methodist -19%, Evangelical Lutheran -8%, Roman
Catholic 23%, Southern Baptist 38% Church of the Nazarene
63%, Seventh Day Adventist 92%, Assemblies of God
(Pentecostal)121%, Mormon 133%, Church of God
(Pentecostal)183%11
The fastest growth among the North American churches
has been the thousands of new Charismatic churches.
Apostolic networks numbering thousands of churches have
developed over the past twenty years. Most of these networks
of churches would embrace the dynamic of power evangelism
with its primary focus on healing and deliverance.

[1] Harvey Cox, Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal

Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First
Century, (New York, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1994) p.
246

[2] Ibid. p. 246

[3] Ibid p. 247

[4] Ibid. p. 187

[5] Ibid. This is based upon an interview I had with Karen
Hurston whose father helped pioneer the church with Cho. She
said the saints wouldn’t have the language of Strategic Level
Spiritual Warfare, but they prayed not only to God, but also
would direct their declarations to Satan and the demons.

[6] Carolyn Boyd, The Apostle of Hope: The Dr. Kriengsak

Story, (West Sussex, England, Sovereign World Ltd., 1991) pp.
120-121

[7] Op. cit., Martin, pp.88-89

[8] Op. cit. Cox, p.168

[9] The name for Tommy Tenney’s book. A must read.

[10] This leader for the Pentecostal Holiness shared this

information with me and Dr. Deiros, Mrarida, and Bottari along
with Jim Hylton and others at Metro Church in Okalahoma City,
Okalahoma in 1998.

[11] Op. cit. Martin, p. 90

Chapter 9: Summary

It is my opinion based upon this study that in most places

of the world the church is growing the fastest where there is
openness to and practice of power evangelism. I believe that as
the world becomes more post-modern in its worldview, those
churches that are open to power evangelism will be best suited
to influence their communities. The old apologetic, which was
entirely based upon presentation evangelism, needs to be
augmented by utilizing power evangelism with the presentation
of the gospel. Presence evangelism softens the hearts of the
unbelievers, making it easier to be open to the gospel. But in
order for us to most effectively reach the masses, especially the
masses of the 10/40 window, we also need to embrace power
evangelism’s emphasis upon healing and deliverance, and not
be afraid of the phenomena that can accommodate the
visitation of God’s empowering presence. Power evangelism is
on God’s heart and is one of the four emphases that the Spirit
is saying to the church today.1
If all I had was one verse from the Bible, John 3:16 and the
following chart, I would have to believe that God is going to
pour out his Spirit in the last days causing one of the most
powerful revivals in human history. Perhaps this revival is
already happening in parts of the earth. More people are alive
right now who have not heard the gospel than have lived and
died in the history of humanity. What if Smith Wigglesworth
was right when before his death he told Lester Sumrall about a
coming revival? Sumrall, who died in 1996, related this
experience with Wigglesworth in these words:
I see it!
What do you see?
I see a revival coming to planet earth, as never before.
There will be untold multitudes who will be saved. No man will
say, “So many and so many,” because no man will be able to
count those who will come to Jesus Christ. I see it! The dead
will be raised, the arthritic healed, cancer will be healed. No
disease will be able to stand before God’s people, and it will
spread all over the world. It will be a worldwide thrust of God’s
power and a thrust of God’s anointing. I will not see it, but you
will see it.2
A multitude of lost souls coming into His Kingdom
because of the mighty acts of power! Let it be in our day!
It was my intention at the outset of this study to inform
you of the mighty outpouring of the Spirit that has happened
and that is continuing to happen in our day. I wanted these
stories to create in you a thirst to see power evangelism in our
day and hour. How hungry are you? How thirsty are you? Do
you desire to see more than you’ve ever seen before? If so, I
invite you to join me on this quest for more of the Holy Spirit’s
outpouring in our time.

[1] Dr. Carlos Mrarida’s lecture on Vision given at the

Conquering the City For God Conference in 1998 in Florence,
Kentucky - for this lecture contact Global Awakening at 717-
796-9866. It is one of the most powerful prophetic insights I
have heard.

[2] Ron McIntosh, The Quest For Revival: Experiencing Great

Revivals of the Past, Empowering You For God’s Move Today!,
(Tulsa, Okalahoma; Harrison House, 1994) pp. 13-14