Dr Jerry Savelle (1946 - 2024)

A persuasion in pain

My Christian faith has led me on many journeys, in the search of purpose, knowledge, and insight on the issues of life along with looking to understand why we exist and what kind of legacy we might leave, to hope that in the annals of time, our footsteps show sure paths and our deeds are impactful in the lives of others.

In early September 2009, I was in excruciating pain and literally dying from cancer tumours that had consumed most of the area of my left sole and the underneath two of my toes. The only way I could walk on that foot was to bandage it tightly and wear a pair of monk shoes. I had not convinced myself of what remedy for this suffering might be.

Maybe a miracle today

My days and nights were preoccupied with listening to sermons on divine healing as I am also of a Pentecostal inclination; I have followed many leaders of that persuasion in the teachings and revelations they have shared for decades. Skimming through some of the websites of these preachers, I happened upon the itinerary of Jerry Savelle and instinctively, I booked a flight from Amsterdam to London with the view to attend every venue he would be appearing at.

In visiting, I informed some friends who met up for either of the two sessions that I attended, it was also a time of reckoning for me because until then, much as I would have wanted a miracle of healing to deal with this problem, a sense of irresponsibility of allowing my condition to deteriorate to the state I was in quickly dawned on me, because I then found the courage to admit to the seriousness of the disease I had until then kept mainly to myself.

An impartation of sense

Dr Jerry Savelle ministered in two different churches where the fawning of the overseers did not help the setting. The man of God then offered to lay hands on the whole congregation, but I was more like the thronging crowd than the woman with the issue of blood. If I received any virtue, it was commonsense. I did not regret my journey; it just gave me context to tackle an existential threat.

I returned home and booked an urgent appointment with my medical doctor and what followed was a referral, chemotherapy, and a survival which at prognosis if I did not tolerate the therapy left me with just 5 weeks to live.

God is good, always

Dr Jerry Savelle was a raconteur, a man who told wonderfully interesting stories about his Christian walk, he preached and taught about faith, favour, grace, the goodness of God, his motorbike and vintage car collection, his aeroplanes, and the many missions he had in Africa and all over the world. He encouraged and enthused, the titles of his sermons of which I have many just made you want to listen to what he had to say.

In Hard Times God Will Rescue You (YouTube playlist) is one set of 3 sermons he preached in 2022 that I have listened to many times in the last year to find great encouragement during my own personal hard times. Whenever I have needed the lifting up of my spirit and a reassurance of God’s love, I would seek out a message by Jerry Savelle either from my large MP3 archive of messages going back 25 years or a recent online impartation to the body of Christ on his itinerary in recent times.

An exemplary man of God

He represented a man of integrity, principle, purpose, faith, and good humour. He had been mentored by and been friends with many of the great men of faith who have either passed on or are well into their 80s. While I am saddened at his passing, he was a sure example of how to live the Christian life and be an exemplar of the eternal life that now is unto the life to come.

He always spoke fondly of Carolyn, his wife of almost 60 years, his two daughters and his grandchildren, he lived a full, exciting, and wonderful life. I think one quite important thing I learnt from his teachings was God is also interested in the things that bring us joy, be they pursuits or hobbies, as long as they do not distract you from eternal purpose.

He will be missed, but with the body of work in books, sermons, teachings, and stories he left for us, we can be thankful there was someone who showed that the person and character of God is for us to really find out, know of, and revel in the joy of living, knowing Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Dare I learn to laugh again?

Where is my laughter?

The other day, I wrote about being sad, the sadness about many things as each aspect of adversity seemed to pronounce a lien on my sense of wellbeing. Much as I have struggled with things, I have pressed forward, not with the speed I wanted nor with the progress I expected, but I have kept looking for ways to encourage myself and refuse to allow the negative to take too much space in my space.

Blog: Sadly Sad Sadness (July 2023)

I had forgotten how to laugh, a strengthening power of joy had left me morose and concerned, preoccupied with many things and oblivious to the good, the beautiful, the wonderful, and the blessings that greet every waking day. Even if I deny it, some self-pity was creeping up on my patch, and I needed to get it off my lawn.

Bring back the joy

And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength! [Nehemiah 8:10 (NLT)]

The part of the joy of the Lord being my strength was registering in my thoughts for a while, but I was unsure of what I needed to do to begin to enjoy the benefits of this medicine of laughter with the healing qualities it presents.

Laughter for the pain

I have written about this many times before, when my Fentanyl patch fell off one Sunday probably when I was at church, the pain of cancer searingly deep came in waves almost too unbearable that as I got home still unaware of why the pain was there and then I began to laugh, not cry, but laugh as I realised how the laughter helped release endorphins that held the pain at bay until the newly affixed patch took hold.

Another experience of laughter was a few years ago when I met a pastor in a park, and we began to chat. He said some incredulous and interesting things to me and about me, much of which not only surprised me but were also as unbelievable to be considered impossible. I chuckled and even laughed just as Sarah in the bible did when she was told at the age of 90 that she would have a child.

Laughter for the winning

Laughter sometimes is an expression of unrestrained vulnerability that can leave in contortions of near embarrassment which when shared with others is a different kind of geniality, communication, and camaraderie. We do need more laughter in our lives as expressions of happiness and more so, joy, a kind of feeling of wellness that overwhelms gloom and presents a new kind of perspective on things.

I know it would do me good, it would heal a lot of pain, it will drown away sorrows and uproot the foothold of sadness, it would lift my countenance and I hold my head up high and in it will come the strength to know that the seasons are changing for a bountiful harvest where the windows of heaven are open for the pouring out of blessing. Delirium, you make think, let’s laugh adversity out of our lives.

Blog: Laughter follows my hospital visit (October 2009)

Blog: Thought Picnic: My laughter and my pain (July 2013)

Blog: Opinion: Where addiction and tragedy can confuse issues (April 2017)

Blog: And I laughed like Sarah (July 2021)

Blog: I was a hostage to pain (September 2022)

Watching a sermon preached by Reverend Richard Roberts he shared his testimony of one day owing no one and the next when he took over the reins of Oral Roberts University, they were $60m in debt and at risk of closing, how the joy of the Lord changed everything and everything changed.

The Joy Of The Lord // Rev. Richard Roberts // May 22, 2019 // Jay Eberly Ministries

Thought Picnic: Are those blanks signs of depression?

Much talk no hearing

A few Sundays ago, I was in church and whilst I appeared to go with the flow, when it came to the sermon, I did not get anything of what the pastor had to say.

In the multitude of words, I comprehended nothing, besides the fact that he was speaking English – my thinking could not connect with what he had to say.

Somewhere along the line, he did ask if we were getting something out of what he had to say, I probably was in a minority not knowing his preaching style to be sure of how it worked for others.

Present and absent

It reminded me of a number of episodes in my academic life when I appeared to be present in class but not present in mind or objective.

There was one instance where I do remember drawing a complete blank. On reflection, I was going through some sort of crisis but there was no one I could talk to about what my experiences were to be sure if I could get help.

Lost without help

My parents would never have understood it, my father being a brain-box just would not have appreciated that I was attending class and not getting it, he would have had me off to vocational classes with the usual excoriating remark redolent of my slow development and my slow responses probably connected to my premature birth – who can say?

My mother would have had me visiting prophets, seers and marabouts trying to ward off evil, real or imagined, besides drinking copious amounts of holy water, some so rancid that it sickened to the pit of my stomach.

The effects of depression

This rotten mental block persisted for about 3 years, and eventually lost me 5 years of tertiary education after secondary school. I would have tortuously recited an interminable number of times Psalms in Yoruba over bowls, buckets or cups of water – it made life less than fun to live in every dimension possible.

I am yet to understand what I really went through; depression comes to mind, something we Nigerians have yet not begun to understand in the slightest.

Ignored emotional needs

Yet, we are under constant pressure of competition and comparison, expected to perform because every other encumbrance has been removed as tuition, board, sustenance, provision and many other parental responsibilities that have been equated to love meeting emotional need.

It was a dark time of my life and in all; it took the best part of 10 years to realign my course not having understood but taking religion and kept a stoicism about things that they will all turn out right.

Understanding the rhythms

These cycles of darkness and light have come and gone through what has become my story. At times, I am so sure of what I need to do and at other times even what I am sure of doing does not seem to produce the results that once came without much exertion.

I have a constant process of assessment and re-evaluation going on, hoping a Eureka moment will dawn on me and with that, the answers to the puzzles of frustration I have long endured.

Thankfully, this Sunday, what the man spoke about was very clear, easy to understand and useful – I need to renew my thinking again.

Thought Picnic: I am Perfect for my Role

Knowing me well

It is beginning to sink in and I need to grab this and run with this like a man with a mission who just realised that his train is about the leave the platform doing everything I can to get on that train.

I have done so many things under my strength, by my ability because of my eligibility and my capability, a self-made man who has an amazing history, a depressing present and from a mere man’s perspective a very unclear future.

In the midst of this, I have come to the realisation that I am perfect for my role if I allow the call upon my life to be exhibited not in the boasts I can give about what I have done but by allowing certain truths that underpin the basis of my Christian faith to shine out of my imperfections.

My imperfections prepare me

O yes, I am an imperfect man, with unmatched tools and unworthy causes set out for a job that I am unqualified for, that has me weak in strength, stuttering in incoherence and lacking in all confidence but it is what makes me perfect for my role.

Why will the weak say I am strong? Why is it that it is those that become like children that have the greatest chance of entering heaven? Why is it that it is the foolish things of the world that have been chosen to confound the wise?

All because God does not want us to rely on our strengths, our abilities, our magnificence and the many things that allow us to boast about what we have been able to do such that God is grudgingly given the glory for where we have arrived at. Until we begin to realise that all things are for the excellency of the God’s purpose and power to be revealed through us that if we might be tempted to boast all we can boast of is in the Lord, we are still doing things under our strength.

The Act of Letting

Where we are not doing things under our strength, we accentuate our weaknesses using those as excuses not to be step forward and be counted because as men we are schooled to use heaven as a augmentation to what we have rather than let heaven’s grace radiate from within us in all our imperfections for men to see the power of God expressed in the weak such that God might be glorified in us.

I am perfect for my role, having lost everything, with chronic health issues, lots of experience brought to nothingness by perceived unviability, almost without a name and struggling with too many things to mention, else this will become an endless read – at that point where acceptance is the beginning of radical change – letting go and letting God – in the most clichéd of evangelical phrases to perfect His will in me.

The Power of Acceptance

I remember not so long ago as I navigated the Kubler-Ross Five Stages of Grief, only then the grief was dealing with disease, the moment I accepted I had cancer I was ready to look at the next stage of my life, winning the battle and putting it into remission – it happened and by medical assessment, my consultants thought the speed of my recovery was both marvellous and miraculous.

Now, the grief is catastrophe manifested in misfortune and I think I have reached the stage of acceptance where what now lays before me is a future that will stretch my imagination.

The path to realisation

I am no doubt a work in progress, ready for what is ahead of me by reason of what I could not have anticipated. The moment I began to realise that people are blessing me not so much because I am so liked but because they themselves are just amazingly and innately good anyhow, I have begun to get some perspective of the level of gratitude I should have for the too many wonderful things that have become the story of my sometimes ordinary and sometimes extraordinary life.

This story is just about to take off.

For those who might be so inclined to elicit why I have come to this realisation, I have been listening to Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church who preached a number of sermons titled – Living a Better Story – there might be some truth in it for you too.

Useful links

These links point directly to the MP3 files

Living A Better Story, 4 Reasons Our Stories Struggle (Part 1)

Living A Better Story, Suspension of Disbelief (Part 2)

Living A Better Story, Cancel the Audition (Part 3)

Living A Better Story, Turning Point (Part 4)

The Elevation Church HomePage.

The Elevation Church Podcast portal for audio, video and HD video archived podcasts, all free to access.

C3 Encounters 2012 - Day 2 (Session II) - Pastor Peter Paauwe

Day 2 at C3 Encounters 2012 was quite a busy day, I have decided to publish my reviews of each of the messages in separate parts and blogs and not in any particular order.

Pastor Peter Paauwe – Breaking through your ceiling

Pastor Paauwe began his message by saying regardless of what you might have obtained or established, you can learn from anyone.

Then developing on the message he shared yesterday about commitment, he said, “Your breakthrough is your own responsibility.” However, that is determined by how we think about the situations we are in Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks, so he is.

Our spirit already has the fullness of God indwelling; it is our thinking that has to change. The order to change our circumstances and see things differently, the growth has to happen in your thinking.

Your internal capacity has to grow to suit your vision, your faith and your skills. If you cannot handle small problems you are not equipped to handle larger problems.

In terms of scale, the problems are usually the same for small or large churches being able to maintain calm and peace are elements of your ability needed to handle problems and it comes with your recognising God’s commitment to you.

You stifle your growth if you think in terms of your problems; growth comes by thinking in terms of solutions, possibilities and opportunities.

Be driven by your big vision with confidence and using common-sense.

Internal ceilings and external ceilings

Don't run with the chickens; fly with the eagles.

Note: Pastor Paauwe taught in Dutch and so as he said we were at the mercy of the interpreter. I feel the use of ceiling is contextually analogous to conflict. Internal ceilings can be read to mean inner conflict and external ceilings can be read to mean external conflict.

He began to teach by saying he was going to compare and contrast two similar but also different personalities and how each reacted to situations and circumstances in their lives.

His chosen personalities were David and Saul - Saul had internal ceilings whilst David had mainly external ceilings.

How we deal with our ceilings will be determined by our Faith, our Courage and our use of Common-sense. [The Dutch word for common-sense literally translates to the way farmers do things.]

Saul and David were both were anointed and they both had prophets in their reigns Samuel for the former and Nathan latter.

Between selection and achievement

Saul was selected to be king from appearance but he had internal conflicts, he aimed to please, wanted to impress and was always seeking approval and adulation. We need to recognise that only one opinion should matter; that of God about us.

Saul had charisma and some physical presence but no character, skills or leadership ability.

David was anointed to be king with the clear distinction of not being chosen by appearance but for character and characteristics that were not immediately discernible to the eye. Then, he was still a shepherd-boy and there was where he learnt his skills.

Though it was not obvious what he could do, when the time came, the skills became not only useful, they were unveiled to the nation at a very public event.

You have to use what God has given you in talent and ability it will result in achieving something great eventually. A man’s gift makes way for him.

Seeing problems and seeing opportunity

When Saul saw Goliath he saw insurmountable problems, he did not inspire confidence and was fearful as Goliath daily threatened the armies of Israel; David even though he did not belong in the army he did not see Goliath as the looming threat, he had a different mind-set.

A man without inner conflicts always sees an opportunity and he is always ready to take on the world around him. Saul limited by the small vision of himself and very low self-esteem saw big problems around him; David’s vision was so big, he had a consuming sense of purpose and drew his strength from knowing who he was and conveyed a perspective that the armies of Israel had all the power of God to back them and lead them to victory. He did not once see Goliath as a problem.

We need to be opportunity-focused not problem-focused.

Though David’s brothers knew he was anointed to be the next king of Israel, they treated him with contempt but he refused to allow the non-recognition of his status to dissuade him from expressing the forceful truth of Goliath not being a problem.

When he was brought before Saul, Saul attempted to equip David with his armour, but David had never proved the armour, it was much bigger than him and it would have hindered him.

Be careful that you do not end up using other peoples weapons to fight your own battles, your ability to succeed can only be based on what you know, what you use and what you understand. It has to be borne of your personality and self-expression.

It is easy to be impressed with professional people but what takes you over is the size of your vision, your faith and your use of common-sense.

Be responsive

David had imperfect people, they were rough and ready but he worked with them, he embraced them, he loved them, he taught them, he encouraged them, he gave them opportunities and in the process he built his own army; he had good leadership skills.

Because Christ is in you, you can make the change you need - my heart must lead my head not the other way round.

If you enlarge your capacity to deal with issues, you will attract those with even more capacity to help you tackle bigger problems, circumstances and battles.

When Saul was challenged he always made excuses, he had no remorse, he was foolish and never quick to make amends. David however responded well to rebuke, he immediately recognised his errors, he had remorse, he repented, he quickly made amends, he was teachable, so God remained with him and he grew in stature and authority.

Externally and physically Saul looked okay, but he was a troubled man, serious conflicted, tormented by spirits, he was jealous, impulsive, obstinate, disobedient, always in pursuit of being honoured regardless of what he had done.

Stop making excuses, the revelation is within you. Enlarge the tent of your thinking. Isaiah 54:2.

Knowing where God is in the situation

David did not allow external circumstances to determine his limits.

Internal ceilings and inner conflicts are your responsibility, you have to deal with the issues, repent and readjust your perspective of things starting with your thinking.

External ceilings and external conflicts are also your responsibility; however, with a big vision, faith, confidence and common-sense those battles are easier to win.

I can feel dry but I am not dry, I have rivers of living water in me, the spirit dwells in me, the fullness of God is in me.

The responsibility is mine to read the bible, to meditate and to begin to see things the way God sees things about you.

God never moves ahead of you, God only takes steps as you take them, I always have to take those steps for God to move. This is the case with Joshua.

If he had not with the children of Israel marched round the walls of Jericho, the walls will still stand.

As long as you have limitations, you cannot make progress.

Keep in your rightful place for your protection

When Jonathan struck a covenant with David, he was already aware he will not succeed his father Saul to the throne, that David will be the next king of Israel. As long as Jonathan stayed with David, he was safe in the protection of God’s purpose and would have easily be honoured in the company of David.

However, Jonathan returned to fight alongside his father who had been rejected of God, he perished with his father in battle.

C3 Encounters 2012 Conference: Day 1

How it began

We kicked off our C3 Encounters 2012 conference in Amsterdam to much funfare and activity with a great praise and worship session that soon moved into a time of prayer for Europe led by Pastors Simon and Valerie McIntyre who are the C3 Directors for Europe.

Pastors from sister churches around Europe were called to pray in their native tongues and we were given historical perspectives of German influence on European Christianity that gave birth to the Reformation movement through Martin Luther, the Swiss and Calvinism, the Dutch and the New Zealanders who feature strongly in our movement through Abel Janszoon Tasman and much more.

We heard prayers in German, then in French – In fact, I have never heard anyone pray in French, it was moving, I was overcome and then in Bulgarian for the Balkans, for Scandinavia and for all other European nations.

Making disciples – Pastor Simon McIntyre

The first session then had Pastor Simon McIntyre preach from the text of Matthew 28:18-20 where he stressed that disciples were made and not found, highlighting the fact that the seeds for church growth were in the local church itself but they had to be developed. We were to look for what was within and amongst us using that to grow our local churches.

He then extended the command to baptise through immersion to immersing people in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, immersing people in the word of God, immersing them into our lives through modelling the word and thereby being an example to others.

Disciples are chosen

Disciples, he said are chosen by reason of leaders identifying faithfulness or giftedness, it is usually incidental and it involves building on that identified potential.

There is a tough love aspect of making disciples, it is direct, strong, loving and confronting – good disciples respond well to rebuke and it works best when passed from generation to generation.

The lesson to take away from this message was the goal of a good leader is to see potential in others and work on making new leaders by example, deed, lifestyle and conduct.

The extraordinary in the ordinary – Pastor Steve Warren

The host pastor, Pastor Steve Warren took on the second session with a message titled – Recovering the extraordinary in the ordinary.

He exhorted us to have a childlike expectation of the extraordinary in the ordinary, working on text from the Acts of Apostles 2:38-47. A case of ordinary people who being empowered by the Holy Spirit sent to them on Pentecost suddenly performed the extraordinary; speaking in different tongues and adding 3000 followers at the first event.

He illustrated the concept better when narrating the tale of Syrophoenician woman who came to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter. She was at first ignored, then told He only came to save the Jews and went on to tell her it was not right to toss the children’s bread to dogs to which she responded the dogs do get to eat the children’s crumbs under the table – with that she got what she wanted.

Crumbs are as good as the loaf

However, the context was that she did not see the ordinariness of the crumbs but was able to rationalise that whatever was in the crumbs also came from the loaf of bread and therefore was just as good as having the loaf.

He said, “The level of your hunger will determine the level of the extraordinary that will happen in your life.”

Praise, he said opens the gates of heaven to the extraordinary and he exhorted us to give thanks in everything according to I Thessalonians 5:18. Other text references he used in his sermon in relation to the usefulness and efficacy of praise and thanksgiving in creating the extraordinary from ordinary circumstances included Psalms 100:4; Psalms 95:2, Ephesians 5:20 & Psalms 34:1.

The Power of Commitment – Pastor Peter Paauwe

Pastor Peter Paauwe, a guest preacher continued from where Pastor Steve Warren left off with a message titled "The Power of Commitment."

He started by saying that problems and challenges are our stepping stones to breakthroughs.

Then he based his text on the narrative in I Samuel 30:1-15, the story being, David returned home to find that his city had been raided and razed with families of both himself and his men taken captive, though they were unsure of what had befallen them.

Pastor Peter made a number of assertions that prayer does not move God but that God is constant, unchanging and is always committed to us. However, prayer can allow us to change our perspectives radically to see and appreciate God’s cause for us.

As David and his men realised what had happened, the story says these mighty warriors wept sore until they had no strength and got to the point where they laid the blame of their predicament on David and were ready to stone him.

We were to reflect on the number of times were we met with adversity and looking for people, issues, situations and even God to blame for deserting us in our time of need.

Count your blessings

David however took a different tack, he strengthen himself by encouraging himself in the Lord, that is, he recognised the many times God had been good to him – in modern parlance, he counted his blessings reassuring himself of God’s commitment to his cause.

II Chronicles 16:9 says, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

The context of commitment suggests a heart at rest, a heart at peace and a heart confident in God rather than in panic, frustration and turmoil. We have to be fully trusting in God.

He said, “Our problems say nothing about how God is committed to us.”

The text goes on to say David enquired of the Lord if he should go after those who raided his city and he was told to go and he would without fail recover all.

Act decisively and promptly

The pastor then said God does not speak in long sentences and the opportunity to take advantage of a word from God is only there for a season.

Case in point was when the Israelites were refused to step forward to take the Promised land at the first opportunity and judgement was visited upon them that they roamed the wilderness for 40 years before a new opportunity to possess the land.

In essence, we need to be decisive, prompt to act, maintain a spirit of compassion for within our doing right and doing good might lay the solution to the once insurmountable problem.

A fleeting moment of opportunity

They found an Egyptian who for three days and three nights had not taken food nor drink and he had been left for dead because he took ill and as it transpired when he was brought to David, he was fed and watered. On recovery and interrogation, it was discovered he was a servant to the people who raided the city, he knew what they had done and where they had gone.

The lesson here was that God’s keys to our solutions usually appear weak, for instance, another day of waiting, grieving or being inconsiderate would have had the Egyptian die with David and his men none the wiser as to how to obtain a fulfilment of God’s promise that they will recover all.

He averred that, “All the power of God is displayed in the weakest things.”

We need to be committed to compassion, committed to people and committed to recognising God’s commitment to us and it is in making that a lifestyle that we can obtain our breakthrough.

The offertory – Pastor Thierry Moehr

Before the evening message, Pastor Thierry Moehr from C3 Lausanne shared from Isaiah 54:2 for the offertory.

“Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.”

He said we have an invitation from God to live a big life, we are all extendable but God can only take the space we give Him.

We need to give God the chance to be a big God in our lives and that can only come about when we decrease ourselves to let God increase. It is about stretching, extending, sacrifice and letting go, all that allows for God to do what he is good at – being God.

Forgiveness and healing – Pastor Phil Pringle

The final session of the day came with Pastor Phil Pringle, the leader and founder of the C3 organisation preaching from Luke 5:17.

“Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”

He preached the gospel of grace signifying who and what we are in Christ is not as a result of what we have done but by reason of our taking on what Christ had done for us.

Conversely, the learned scholars of the law could not comprehend the essence of Colossians 1:21-22 “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

It is accepting the sacrifice of Christ that allows us to be presented holy, blameless, and above reproach in the sight of God.

Achievement is the work of many

Then using the passage of Luke 5:17-26 he expatiated on how the power of God to heal was of no benefit to the scholars who had crowded out the place such that those who believed the power of God might help their paralytic friend had to find alternative ways to get to Jesus.

He assigned roles to the four friends of the paralytic; Leader (Had the idea that Jesus could heal his friend and proposed all the strategies to get to Jesus.), Helper (Joined in to follow the leader in what he had to do.), Intercessor (Arranged for the bed to convey their friend.) and Evangelist (Persuaded their friend to get in the bed to be carried to where Jesus was.)

In setting out this scenario, he said no one could achieve their full potential without the help of others stressing that unity is the place of power and the fulfilment of any destiny in the church is done in the context of connections and relationships with others.

Forgiveness presages healing

Having found they could gain no access to Jesus they let the man down through the rooftop having removed the tiles and the story says, Jesus saw their faith and then addressed the man that his sins were forgiven and thereby he was healed. [Note that it is the faith of the four friends Jesus saw in ministering to the paralytic - sometimes we need a helping hand to access the free mercies of God.]

As the scholars questioned what Jesus had done reasoning with their hearts about how he could forgive sin, the man who had believed with his heart that his sins were forgiven picked up his bed and walked.

One notable statement Pastor Phil made was that, “People are attracted to a non-judgemental environment.”

He developed this by saying, “Unforgiveness lies at the root of many people’s illnesses,” and that “forgiveness and healing almost always go together.”

As he shared a story of forgiveness and healing he said there are three main blockages to forgiveness.

• Not accepting forgiveness from God.
• Not accepting forgiveness from others.
• Not forgiving oneself.

He closed by calling people forward to be prayed for.

Conclusion

It was a very busy day, well organised and everything seemed to work as planned, I am sure most attendees were mightily blessed and all this was just on the first day of the conference. There is excitement in the air.

C3 Encounters 2012 is on a roll.

C3 Encounters 2012: God is manifested in who you are

Easy on the ears

Later this week for three full days our church will have a conference bringing together members from all around Europe to Amsterdam.

One thing I like about our movement is its international youthful and vibrant approach to things of Christianity that explores how people can get to live their best life.

Our conferences do not have the razzmatazz titles of a James Bond film or the thriller of a science-fiction flick with all the suspense of other-worldliness that sometimes presents from the usual Pentecostal fare, they are easy of the senses and approachable by all – the mother church in Australia held Presence just over a month ago and here in Amsterdam where our church was planted just about 12 years ago we will have Encounters 2012.

Last Sunday and this Sunday we have had sermons preached by the resident pastor Steven Warren and the C3 Europe Director Simon McIntyre encouraging us to make the best of Encounters have a life-changing encounter with God that could do wonders for who we are and where we are.

Of personalities and relationships

Pastor Simon McIntyre gave a talk on encounters based on II Samuel 22:26-27 (NLT)

²⁶ “To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
    to those with integrity you show integrity.
²⁷ To the pure you show yourself pure,
    but to the wicked you show yourself hostile.

In context, as we believe in a God that never changes the reality is God meets people at the point that they relate to him.

The first example he gave was of King David who wrote Psalm 23 which begins with “The Lord is My Shepherd.” He could well relate because David before he became king was a shepherd boy, he knew what it took to herd sheep, to corral them and protect them danger as well as the apparent dumbness of sheep which presents itself in their getting lost, falling into ravines or being prey to predators.

In the same vein, he could see God as his shepherd, protecting him from danger and even being forgiving if he had done really foolish and dumb things.

Besides, David was also a warrior and there are many Psalms that talk of war, of enemies, of defeat, of despair, of courage, of victory and of praise. The characteristics and character of David in his personality allowed him to relate to God in the context of what he knew and who he was.

Relationships by reason of who you are

Then came Moses whose defence of the Jews before he was called to lead them on the Exodus from slavery in Egypt, he was driven by a sense of justice and that sometimes drove him to task rash decisions in the pursuit of justice. He always argued his case before God many times sometimes persuading God from His wrath against the people of Israel and at other times having his arguments defeated.

The then became the law-giver and most of what represents the pursuit of justice today derives from Mosaic Law and its application to society.

With Joshua who succeeded Moses, his role was to lead the children of Israel to take the Promised Land and as the head of the army he stood to challenge anyone who came within to the camp.

He was fearless when he saw a man stood over him with his sword drawn that he asked if he was friend or foe and as the man answered that he was the captain of the hosts of the Lord, Joshua immediately the man of superior rank as he fell to his face and worship as should be expected of army hierarchies – that was how he could relate.

Connecting with the best of you

Then Pastor Simon talked about the lives of Pastor Phil Pringle the leader of the C3 movement and himself signifying that Pastor Phil came from a hippie culture where what he knew was about experience and atmosphere and his ministry has always reflected experience, presence, encounter, deliverance, relationships and leadership.

Pastor Simon is a different personality, more methodical, quite introspective, processing thoughts and ideas before he made decisions. Though, he took his time to fall in line in obedience, he was at the time that he did fully persuaded of the reasons why he made the decisions he made and that is what has been reflected in his ministry.

The essence of the message shared today was clear, we do not need to imitate other are attempt to copy the personalities of others in wanting to relate to God.

We should be ourselves and in being ourselves in the knowledge of who we are and what we know we find that our encounters with God are fulfilling and worthwhile because our being is fully connected with who made us who we are – warts and all.

God is by your makeup

To take the Message version of the text of the sermon today, this is what it boils down to.

^26-28 You stick by people who stick with you,
      you're straight with people who're straight with you,
   You're good to good people,
      you shrewdly work around the bad ones.
   You take the side of the down-and-out,
      but the stuck-up you take down a peg.

Whoever you are is what will become the conduit of your relationship with God, it good without saying that you want to express your best characteristics and virtues the more and make less of the uncomely parts of your personality that will represent God to you as hostile – not because He is hostile but because you have clogged up the conduit to God’s goodness with the wrong attitude, wickedness and lack of responsiveness to His great love.

The Encounters 2012 conference is on from Thursday the 17^th of May through the 19^th of May 2012, I am expectant and ready for a great experience, I will be a better person of me to get linked in with God’s purpose for me and this will be an encounter that will make a difference for me.

Join us, if you can – click on the link above for details to attend the whole conference or just to visit a day session.

Grounded By The Heart of Worship

An altered Sunday

On Sunday, just as I was about to step out of church I was co-opted into a prayer meeting of the Outreach Team; a group of quite highly exuberant people with infectious enthusiasm for proselytising and inviting people to church events.

The event this time was called Heart of Worship, a gathering of youths and young adults with ages ranging from 11 to 29 years old.

I did not plan on proselytising and after the meeting just as I rode my bicycle home, I took a detour to the South-East of Amsterdam with the hope that one of those African shops will not have kept the Sabbath – I never expected to find one open but I surprisingly did and with that got a few choice items for my nostalgic palate.

An unusual venue

Heart of Worship was to start at 18:00 and though it uses a venue just 3 minutes by bicycle from my home, I have never attended the event, but this time I just dared.

As I arrived at Pakhuis de Zwijger, a warehouse that had been converted into a multi-purpose venue with part of it hollowed out in the middle to offer access to a detachable vehicular bridge, I could already hear the sound of loud music.

The hall was dimly lit, the music loud and the performance of the band a lot different from the conventional antics at church. The music was also quite unfamiliar but full of meaning and feeling as I realised how stuffy, groan up and grown up I had become amongst that many who were closer to nephews, nieces and children if I had ever been a parent than siblings.

Adjusting to difference

In any case, I did still try to soak in the atmosphere even though I did not find myself gesticulating as if I were at a hip-hop concert at the instigation of the singers. I need to loosen up a bit for all this jumping, revelling and high-fives, but I have apparently been slaughter at the altar of respectability.

To my observation, I noticed how much talent is reposed in the youth of our church much of which finds no expression in the main church services in their musicality and absence of inhibition which appears to be curtailed by the formal settings of organised programmes and groan ups like me.

They all gained my respect with the way they used their voices as they switched between instruments with ease and one performance had a new solo singer, a worship singer take the keyboard, a keyboardist take the guitar and the drummer squatting on what I later found out was an Afro-Peruvian cajón – genius!

After the singing, dancing and clapping, there was some teaching based on the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel who later became the prophet who anointed David for the position of king of the Israelites, taken from the 1^st Chapter of the First book of Samuel.

The message showed how people can be frustrated by the successes of others who can use their good fortune to denigrate those who have not been as fortunate. How desperation and desire can concentrate the mind on a goal, how the dedication of that desire to service can bring needed help and the wonderful testimony that can come out of having not just answers to particular prayers but much beyond that too.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that a message from the pulpit can be of great significance to all, from the fully liberated to the reserved – the heart beats to a rhythm of life seeking solutions, respite, succour and peace regardless of who embodies that heart.

I was truly blessed, but will I ditch the cravat and brogues for a less demure and more casual appearance at the next Heart of Worship? Time will tell.

Nigeria: Politics, Prophecy and Perceptions of Tunde Bakare

Perceptions or propaganda

The Nigerian public space sometimes affords the opportunity to postulate, proselytise, propagate, preach, prophesy, pronounce, predict, pander or pillory.

That list is hardly exhaustive as people who believe they have a voice find easy platforms, lecterns, pulpits, organs and media to make their strong views known.

There is the truth out there and there are shades of the truth, people can subscribe to speak the truth but the whole truth in a society as diverse and multifarious as Nigeria cannot be in the exclusive possession of singular persons, communities, regions, states or particular interests no matter how altruistic, honest and laudable their aims might be.

We must however grant everyone the opportunity to relay and convey their version of the truth and those who hear must exercise the greatest and utmost meticulous means to assess, challenge, verify, discuss and ascertain with all objective resource the sum and product of all these versions to arrive at the truth, debunk the fallacies, contemn the lies and in all expressions of disagreement strive to avoid disagreeableness.

As we stand in Nigeria

This afternoon, I came upon a sermon delivered by Pastor Tunde Bakare who recently was the presidential running mate of Retired General Mohammadu Buhari of the CPC, which in the Presidential elections of April the 16^th literally swept the majority in the North but hardly made an impact in the South.

I am of the conviction that the CPC was never a party that had the requisite national representative cachet to take the spoils from both their poor showings in all the elections apart from the presidential one, which meant even if they did pull the miracle of winning the race to head the executive arm of government, it would have been impossible for them to implement their agenda with a minuscule number of representatives in the legislature.

In fact, I would have expected the Machiavellian nature of Nigerian politics to have inspired the legislature to make the impeachment of the CPC stalwarts their one and only aim until they put a ruling party stooge in charge, but that is speculation.

The backstories are many

Now, Pastor Bakare is a passionate man, he is most probably a very religious man and as a preacher he can put together a very compelling case that would rank with the legal prowess of Perry Mason or some other amazing legal luminary however in a court the case is heard for both the appellant and the defendant with sometimes the use of expert witnesses, the moderation of a judge and the attentiveness of a jury before a decision is arrived at.

I will contend that despite the many facts, truths, analogies, allegories, inferences, proverbs and riddles, we have only heard a side of a bigger story which appears on deeper scrutiny to be a proxy feud between families intent on laying claim to some crown of leadership of a community.

There are many backstories to the claims being made and it is important that beyond the sensationalist headlines that newspapers will gravitate to in the quest for grandiose speculation and vile vituperations it behoves all that are fair and just to listen to the good 1:45 hours of this message.

To enter the discourse

It is probably best reviewed in Internet Explorer where you can adjust the slider, in Google Chrome, you are forced to listen to the whole lot and using Mozilla Firefox you will need to have the Apple Quicktime plugin installed.

An open mind is required and you probably want to take notes, the last thing you want to do is jump to conclusions or make assertions that were not volubly and directly made by the speaker.

The admissible evidence

It started from Feyi Fawehinmi’s status on Facebook where over a 100 comments and exchanges have clashed with passion. Depending on his security settings you might be able to view the exchanges, have to login in to Facebook or become his friend on Facebook.

Bakare: A bastard can’t be Yoruba leader: The National Compass Newspaper scores a tabloid style news scoop courting controversy with some excerpts of the sermon.

The sermon – It’s time to speak – Tunde Bakare, best reviewed in Internet Explorer or through Mozilla Firefox on systems where Apple QuickTime is installed.