A warm welcome to the first edition of Gav’s Blog. Wherever you read this, whether you’re in a coffee shop with a laptop, at the office (during lunch break obviously), the desk in your study at home, or you trendy techies with blackberries who could be anywhere , I kind of see this as a fireside chat (it’s not a theological essay), or gathered around a latté in said coffee shop. My hope is to

• stimulate healthy discussion
• encourage our walk
• inform and educate
• build up faith

So kick back, relax and join me as we reflect on what God is saying and doing and how we make sense of life and faith.

So let’s kick off with something meaty and contemporary: Todd Bentley and the Florida ‘outpouring’ / healing ‘revival’. If you’ve not heard about it a church leader/evangelist called Todd Bentley (Fresh Fire Ministries) began a 4 day mission in Florida in April. It has mushroomed into daily evening meetings for around 10 000 people and is still going strong. It is marked by passionate worship of Jesus, healings and an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In the last week it is fair to say, that everyone is talking about it, giving an opinion and a judgement about it and Todd Bentley; It’s all over the Christian press , and you’ll find loads on the web, especially critical of Todd and his style, or theology.

It’s fascinating reading the criticisms (I don’t think having tattoos and a criminal record is an issue). I can’t imagine the devil planning a movement involving passionate worship of Jesus, healing in Jesus name, and changing and transforming their lives. He is unconventional in his style, shouting and dramatic, but I feel we judge anyone at our peril. The issues are too many to consider in one blog, so here’s a few things I want to encourage us to remember:

• Jesus was misunderstood and rejected by the religious establishment
• Most moves of God / revivals and many men and women of God are misunderstood
• Let’s be slow to judge - every Christian has a bit of the flesh in them, including you and me, and what we do isn’t perfect
• Let’s not knock the body of Christ - it’s part of Jesus.
• Let’s ask ourselves how many people we’ve brought to Christ this week, healed, transformed their lives etc.
• Let’s pray to God continually for revival and an outpouring of His Spirit as that is what our world needs. Let’s be ready that our prayers may be answered in ways that surprise us.
• Let’s be open to how God wants to use us to change our community and world.

With or without Todd, it appears to me that God is increasing an anointing for healing and extending his kingdom through the power of the Spirit. Don’t let fear take root in your hearts because of scaremongering. This is exciting and challenging. Let’s get on our knees for our world.”

Gav