"Kuurti yarrarni kuwarri ngangka mungkangka" ("Holy Spirit, we welcome you in this place tonight") is the first line of a song being sung at many Aboriginal communities around the Pilbara. It was composed by Len "Nyaparu" Brooks, also known as Kurutakurru, one of the many leaders God has raised up among the Martu Wangka, Nyangumarta and other peoples of the Pilbara.

A spiritual awakening took place in many communities last year, in 1997. Things started at Warralong, where many became Christians and were baptised after being influenced by three Christian Aboriginal leaders. Then just before Christmas, Kurutakurru joined two other leaders at Nullagine, and many from Nullagine and other communities became Christians and came across to the dam at Newman to be baptised.

Many communities started having meetings almost every night and prayer meetings every day. Leaders travelled to different communities for the meetings and to encourage people, sometimes holding meetings at night after a funeral service when hundreds of people were gathered. Some meetings went on for eight hours or more as people shared in song, testimony, prayer, Bible reading and preaching.

When Franklin Graham visited Perth in early February, over 200 Martu people travelled the 1150 km for his meetings. It was like one long church service all the way there and back. Everyone was bursting to sing and witness to the people in Perth.

When we got back there were more meetings and baptisms, even from communities that had previously rejected Christianity. Old people, Aboriginal elders, were turning to Christ and being baptised. Four hundred people gathered at the Coongan River near Marble Bar for three days of meetings, with many more being baptised.

Police, hospitals and others have noticed a decrease in alcohol related incidents. The media has begun to take notice. Nullagine, which had the record of being the arrest capital of Australia, became news when the pub went broke, apparently because so many had given up the grog. ‘A Current Affair’ came up and did a television spot at Nullagine.

Amazingly, a simultaneous and apparently quite separate revival began at about the same time among the Pintubi people and others across the border in the Northern Territory. A team from Kiwirrkura, just on the WA side of the border, travelled across the desert and joined up with the Pilbara meetings, arriving early for our Easter Convention held in a wide dry river bed near Newman. More than 1000 people from different communities and Christian traditions came together to celebrate.

Why the revival? It is nothing more or less more than a work of the Holy Spirit. It has similarities to the revival that spread to many Aboriginal communities in the early ’80s, which reached the Pilbara but never really took hold. Like that revival, people have had dreams and visions. Recently Mitchell, a leader from Punmu, got up and read from Acts 2 about Joel’s prophecy and said it was being fulfilled. Not long ago, people told me they had seen a cross in the sky one morning. And like the ‘80s revival, it is the Aboriginal people taking the Wangka Kunyjunyu (Good News) to their own people in their own way and their own language.

Aboriginal leaders empowered by the Holy Spirit are leading the revival. These leaders would like to see the revival reaching the wider Kartiya (non-Aboriginal) society. But for these shy desert people to reach out to Kartiya in these days of Mabo, Wik and the struggle for reconciliation will only be by the hand of God.

Revival! In some Christian circles it is like the Holy Grail - something to be sought after at all cost. But perhaps few realise that a revival did come to Australia - or that there is again a revival happening right now. Perhaps few realise this because both revivals began in remote areas among Aboriginal people.

In 1979 a revival began on Elcho Island off the Northern Territory. In 1981 it came to the Warburton Ranges in Western Australia, and then spread to many Aboriginal communities around Australia. I was privileged to have been a witness to that revival.

In 1981/82 at the height of the revival in Western Australia I was teaching at the Christian Aboriginal Parent-directed School at Coolgardie. All of the students became Christians and there were prayer, praise and testimony meetings most nights. My present work as a pastor/missionary is a direct result of that revival. The revival has been well documented in Ian Lindsay’s Fire in the Spinifex and John Blacker’s Fire in the Outback. The effect of that revival nearly 20 years on is still strong in many communities - Aboriginal Christian leaders, committed Aboriginal Christians and Gospel seeds sown in many places and many lives, including the Pilbara.

My wife, Lyn, and I came to the Pilbara in 1993, settling in the town of Newman. Our vision was to see a strong, indigenous Aboriginal church raised up amongst the Martu Aboriginal people of this area. But we had not expected to see it so soon. We had expected a long, slow struggle before anything of significance developed.

Some communities were strongly anti-Christian. At one community we were told by some white Christians not to be too overt in our Christian witness. Two years later Aboriginal leaders from our Parnpajinya Church at Newman baptised many from that community. At another community a clause against teaching Christianity was written into the school constitution. Two years later we were having Christian meetings on the school verandah. Aboriginal people told me how some of the old men had threatened Christians with spears. Some of these same old men have now accepted Christ.

Against all expectations we found the Martu people to be really open to the Gospel. The seeds were sown by the 1981 revival, by the witness of the Apostolic Church and by the work of the late Jim Marsh, a gifted linguist with a pastoral heart, much respected by the people.

Winter rains refreshing

We began our own language efforts modestly, by walking up to Aboriginal people and speaking a few words we had picked up in the Goldfields and then, with practice, gradually expanding our vocabulary. Church also began slowly, but some believed and then were baptised. We thought things were happening too quickly, even then, so we didn’t rush to baptise anyone.

Teams of Aboriginal Christian men from the Plibara Aboriginal Church of Roebourne (Apostolic) came over from time to time and helped. Leaders developed. More were baptised. I became committed to taking teams from Parnpajinya (Newman) to various communities. Gifts were developed. More and more became Christians and were baptised, but the revival hadn’t really come as yet. It was like the winter rains refreshing us before the main summer rains came. Communities - too many to cope with - were crying out for visits.

One of our leaders - Kerry Kelly (KK) - had gone to Warralong and teamed up with a couple of other strong Christians. Warralong has a community that had been opposed to Christianity. But the Spirit moved there and many were baptised. We had Christian meetings (the first ever). At one meeting nearly the whole community came forward to dedicate or re-dedicate their lives to Christ. KK, less than two years old as a Christian, became one of the main leaders at Warralong and for the revival. In 1996 I had taken KK over to a Men’s Training Camp in the Northern Territory. This interaction helped solidify KK in his Christian walk. KK often leads at the Lord’s Supper, and when many communities come together this has been a unifying factor.

At Parnpajinya (Newman), just before and after Christmas 1997, many people were coming to the Lord and we were having multiple baptisms at the Ophthalmia Dam. This was about the time the revival really took off. People from Jigalong and other communities were also coming to be baptised, including some of the old men. Many nights we were having meetings that went to early in the morning. Some communities were having meetings every night and prayer meetings every day! Some still are.

The ‘arrest capital’ of Australia

Nullagine, which had the dubious distinction of being called "the arrest capital" of Australia, asked us to come there, which we did. Len (Nyaparu*) Brooks, known as Kurutakururru, Walter Crusoe (Wari) and Billy (Nyaparu*) Landy took up the leadership at Nullagine. Many people there who had become Christians were asking to be baptised.

So one weekend I drove the old church bus to Nullagine, picked up as many people as could be squashed into the bus and, two flat tyres later, drove back to Newman. Many were baptised. Our practice is to have two doing the baptising together - usually one who knows the words to say and another who might be a learner. For cultural reasons, we have men baptising men and women baptising women. So we picked out two men and two women from each community. When the baptisms finished, we found out the lady leader from Nullagine doing the baptisms hadn’t been baptised herself, so we turned around and baptised her!

After that we travelled again to Nullagine and baptised a number of people there, including people from remote communities and some more of the old men. Parnpajinya, Nullagine, Punmu and Warralong, with some from Jigalong and Parnngurr, were spearheading the revival. I travelled around with leaders such as Alistair (Jaliku) Sammy, Chrissie Sailor, Clarrie Robinson and Lizzie Jones to different communities encouraging the believers and holding meetings that at times went for hours. Sometimes hundreds would stay on after a funeral and all join together for a Christian meeting. In October 1997 1 had taken Clarrie Robinson and Willie Bennett to a Men’s Training Camp in the Northern Territory. The topic was ‘Preaching’. Clarrie came back and began preaching for the first time. Willie went back to Kiwirrkurra near the Western Australia / Northern Territory border. Incredibly, a revival had sprung up at Kiwirrkurra and other Pintubi communities in the Northern Territory at about the same time as the Western Australia revival, but quite unconnected. Willie Bennett became a leader of that revival.

Someone heard that Franklin Graham was coming to Perth for a Festival, and the Aboriginal Christian leaders decided it would be good to go to hear him. The only thing was, Perth was 1150 kilometres away! But people chucked in money and somehow over 200 people crammed into 4 coaster buses, 2 mini-buses and a motley fleet of assorted 4WDs and other vehicles and got to Perth (and back!).

We were there for a week, but it was like one long revival meeting. We sang and prayed all the way down and had meetings every morning and night where we were camped (when we weren’t listening to Franklin!) Kurutakurru, a gifted singer and song-writer himself, had the idea of singing outside to the crowds waiting to get in the Burswood Dome where Franklin was speaking. So we arrived early each night, gathered in a group and sang away in English and Martu Wangka to the kartiyakaja (white people). They seemed to appreciate it. The style was a bit different to the precision programming that happened inside the Dome, though!

When we got back, some communities had the idea of holding a mini-convention before our main Easter Convention. After some hesitation (over finding a place with enough water for baptisms!) a gorge near Warralong was chosen. Over 50 people were baptised including some old men who had been opposed to Christianity previously. Two old men and an old lady, too crippled to enter the water, knelt down while water was poured over them with a cup (this was after some discussion as to whether such a baptism was okay). It was a stirring witness! Meetings went on morning and night. Even a rain storm and lightning strike one night didn’t dampen the enthusiasm.

Our Easter Convention (1998) was a wonderful time of celebrating Jesus. Over 1000 people came, including many new Christians from communities that had never come before. The meetings went nearly non-stop over the Easter period. Singing is a prominent feature of the revival. There is a real sense of joy that comes out in song. Many new songs have been written and many old songs translated into Martu Wangka, Nyangurnartu and other languages. Everywhere you go you bear kids singing and tapes playing songs of the revival.

So many people were becoming Christians and giving up the grog that the pub in Nuilagine lost a lot of its business and went into receivership. The story made news around Australia. Nyaparu Landy and I were interviewed on Perth radio! A Current Affair went to Nuilagine.

But the revival has not stopped. The Martu people themselves are reaching out to other Martu people. Neilie Bidu from Yandeyarra came back, fired up from

hearing Franklin Graham, to reach out to his own community. He began a small prayer meeting and then invited Kurutakurru and other leaders from Warralong and Punmu to help him. So they went to Warralong and many there became Christians. Yandeyarra people in turn have reached out to Banjima people near Tom Price. Other communities have also been reached, including some that were closed to Christianity. Some of these communities had turned away Crusade teams from the 1981 revival. Now they have turned to the Lord.

Only the power of the Holy Spirit can explain this revival. It is a miracle, an incredible revival happening. Mitchell Biljabu, a leader from Punmu, has likened it to the prophecy of Joel in Acts 2.

I asked Milton Chapman, another leader from Punmu what, apart from the Holy Spirit, is bringing about the revival. He replied that it was Aboriginal leaders bringing the message of Good News to their own people. Many have responded to the powerful witness of changed lives. Alistair and Chrissie wrote their testimony for Today magazine and said: "For a long time we were drinking and gambling… We started to think about Mama (Father) God… we gave our hearts to the Lord. We have kept following Mama God right up to now."

The example has had a strong impact on their extended families, nearly all of whom have become Christians. Prayer has been another major factor in the revival. The Martu pray simple and sincere prayers for all sorts of things. The prayer meeting at Nullagine every morning helped keep the believers strong.

But there have also been some excesses and difficulties in the revival. Some still struggle with alcoholism and some have gone back to the drink. Many are new Christians with little knowledge of Christianity. Even the leaders are in the main untrained. Some are illiterate. And other groups have come in with different ideas and practices that have caused division even within families and have led to much debate and argument, some of it bitter. One is a legalistic group that stresses the keeping of the 10 commandments, especially the fourth (keeping the Sabbath). Another is a fairly extreme charismatic group.

Then there are issues of a more cultural nature. Some couples who have become Christians are married the wrong way in a tribal (though not biblical) sense, including some leaders. What to do? What to do about some of the tribal laws and ceremonies? Reject them all? Keep some? These are big issues to be worked through.

We are encouraging the leaders to read the Bible for themselves and to come to solid biblical conclusions as they struggle through these issues with the help of the Holy Spirit, but it will take time. Pray for the people and the revival!

Used with permission from Vision, the magazine of the Australian Baptist Missionary Society, July 1998, pages 12-15.

Mairi Barton is a reporter with The West Australian newspaper in Perth. These reports were written in April 1998.

A religious revival among Aboriginal people in the remote North-West town of Nullagine - once labelled the arrest capital of Australia - has drastically reduced the number of arrests and jailings.

Police in Nullagine, 184 km north of Newman (in WA), claim drunken domestic fights which once dogged the community have virtually disappeared and the residents seem happier and healthier.

The only sufferer is the local pub, the Conglomerate Hotel, which once kept six staff busy. Last month the lessee went into receivership after the town’s 100 to 150 Aboriginal people turned to Christianity in November.

Since then, the Aboriginal community has reduced the number of arrests to just a handful and there have been no jailings. They gave up alcohol and labelled the hotel "the devil’s place".

Instead of going to the bar each night to drink, they sit happily in circles under the stars, pray and sing gospel songs at the Yirrangkaji community on the outskirts of the town.

When The West Australian visited last week, they were eager to share their new-found love of God and talk about the positive changes they have made to their lives.

"I couldn’t sit here and say it was a bad thing," he said. "If they are better off, then it’s a wonderful thing." ...

The two men believed responsible for their religious conversion - local Aboriginal men who left town a couple of years ago and returned late last year as changed men, keen to share the Christian message - were out of town.

Senior Constable Mal Kay, the officer in charge at Nullagine, said the drop in crime could be explained in part by the fact that the population dropped every time big groups from the community left town to attend religious meetings around the Pilbara and in Northam.

Most arrests in town in the past have been assaults and woundings stemming from alcohol.

Mother-of-two Lisa Dalbin used to be a weekly visitor to the Nullagine police lockup for assault, anti-social behaviour or just to sober up. The 26-year-old would spend her pension on alcohol, get jealous over her man and find herself in punch-ups with women who were her friends when she was sober. That was before she found Christianity and gave up drinking last November.

"We pray and sing every morning and every night," she said. "We have church meetings every Wednesday and Saturday."

Miss Dalbiii has worked off her fines through community work, picking up rubbish and working in the children’s kitchen - where the children have breakfast, shower and change into their uniforms before school.

Her favourite drink used to he port and she freely admits that it made her act mad. She does not miss it. She is happier, has money in her pocket to go shopping and takes better care of her sons, aged five and eight, now she is sober. She is even studying to get her driver’s license, a privilege which seemed out of reach to her a few months ago. The only time she sees the police now is when they stop to say hello in the street.

Her cousin Phillip Bennell, 39, who spent much of his youth behind bars because of alcohol-related strife, has also been sober for about four months since "he saw the light".

Mr Bennell said it would be easy for him to turn back to drink, but he did not want to because he had realised the damage it could do. "I had two feet in the grave and what I was doing was adding a final nail in the coffin," he said. "But when I found the Lord I gave it all away. I didn’t want to die a young bloke."

He said he no longer wanted to drink because he had a 12-year-old daughter and her life was more important to him than alcohol.

Mr Bennell said the footpath outside the Conglomerate Hotel had been the site of many arguments and brawls, but now the community held prayer meetings across the road. If they ventured into the pub, it was only to get a cool drink.

"There used to be a lot of tough drinkers at the reserve," he said. "They gave it away because they found a bit of peace and a better way of life. A lot of people here want their health, and their children brought up in a good environment.

As a Church we had been moving in a measure of revival of some time, where the Holy Spirit has moved upon us, where some days in the meetings there has been no man ministry but total Holy Ghost ministry with deep repentance, deliverance, restoration of families, marriages, and relationships. There is a great sense of unity and oneness within the House.

At the beginning of this year, 1998, I really sensed God saying that this was a year of great faith being released in our midst. We have been praying to this end for release. I declared, as a bite-size faith step, we should believe for ten families to be added to our Church. The following week, one family was added by being ‘born again’ (not transfer growth). Since the beginning of Pentecost Sunday (31 May 1998), God has added 48 new converts to the Kingdom among us, of which at least thirty are locals.

Here is a brief report as to what happened on 31 May, Pentecost Sunday, in St. Helens Christian Fellowship. We had Ronnie Fynn, a South African Zulu evangelist, doing a two day ministry, which had been planned during the previous six months. Through prayer and fasting (we were in the latter days of a 40 day corporate fast), the expectancy of what God would do was very high. During the meetings, it was obvious that we had moved to another level in the praise and worship, especially in the areas of clapping and shouting.

We really sensed we had broken through by the end of Sunday’s meeting. Ronnie had shared from Isaiah 40:31, pointing out that the word ‘wait’ means ‘expect’ God to be God. This word increased the faith level of the people. As we were closing (well, we thought we were closing), Ronnie was sensing the Lord speaking to him and taking him back to the revivals in South Africa of the mid seventies, in which he was involved. He saw the same signs that God was about to do something significant and so he was waiting to share that with me, and really felt the urgency as I was beginning to close the meeting. In my heart I felt the same, although at that point I was unaware of what Ronnie was experiencing. I called him over, and as soon as he shared it with me, he asked me, "What are we gonna do?" I said "Go for it!"

A word of knowledge came, that as a church we were to go out into the town and get all the sick and infirm who would come. At that moment it was like great boldness fell on the church, as in Acts 1:8 ‘You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’

With that, the presence of God was tangible. It was as if heaven had opened up; awesome, but also very gentle. The love of God filled the house. Not long after that, folk started to return with the sick and infirm. Incidentally, all these people that came, were not born again.

The first lady who came had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was experiencing a lot of pain, especially at night. We prayed for her and not much seemed to happen, although by faith we declared the word of healing over her. She had a brother in the church, and their relationship had been strained over the years. The brother went and asked her for forgiveness, and the moment he did, she felt the presence of God all over her, a warm tingly feeling, and now testifies that although the lumps are still there, the pain has gone.

Another lady, a Sister at the local hospital, had a bad car accident a few years ago. She has suffered migraine headaches and energy drain and dizzy spells ever since. We prayed for her and she now testifies to feeling great; even her countenance has changed, no headaches, dizzy spells or fatigue since Sunday.

Another lady who, together with her husband, are well known and well loved in the local community for their work with children and within the local school, was brought in for healing. She has been in calipers and on crutches since contracting polio at the age of ten years, she is now in her fifties. After she was prayed for, she raised her hands above her shoulders, something which she has not been able to do before without severe pain, she also walked without the aid of her crutches, hands above her head, for several metres around the church. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The children particularly were moved with the compassion of God and gathered around her, embracing her and loving her. She testified later that she had never felt so loved in her life. I told her how much she loved children and had given herself for them, and how today she had experienced the true love of God for her, that being a significant reality she had not experienced before.

My daughter, Asha, (12 years old), had a vision that the heavens were opened up, and God dropped a mustard seed into our midst. The seed represented an impartation of faith into the body, and I encouraged everyone to partake of it that they would have their own personal burning bush experience. Another child, Rose (12 years old), spoke prophetically and declared with tears and weeping that ‘Revival has begun’. All in all it was an amazing day, and the meeting which started at the usual time of 10.00 a.m. didn’t end until 5.30 p.m.

In the ensuing three weeks, we had meetings every night, with attendance ranging around 180 - 200 people during the first two weeks, with many travelling from all parts of the State. Again, to this date we have witnessed 48 conversions, that is, first time decisions. We’ve seen numerous miraculous healings, such as curvature of the spine being straightened, ulcers instantly healed; a gentleman with a history of kidney disease testified to being healed, this being evidenced by his constantly yellow eyes becoming white overnight. One man, testified that a constant ringing in his ears, which been there for many years, stopped after prayer for healing. We have witnessed several instant healings from back pain.

Another lady, unsaved, received prayer for severe kidney disorder and a stomach ulcer, and was at the time in severe pain from this disorder. She immediately experienced quite a measure of healing, then accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. She testified, the following day, that the pain had returned, however, she stood on the Word and claimed her healing, and had the best night’s sleep she has had in years, and did not need to use her painkillers. She was clearly very much at ease and not in any pain whatsoever. Further testimony concerning this lady is that she is attending church in Hobart and has already been instrumental in bringing another lady to the Lord.

A husband and wife, unsaved, who attended one of the meetings, came forward for prayer as the man was suffering from a severe muscular degenerative disease. Doctors told him that he would be in a wheelchair in a couple of months. He had a fused neck, no feeling in his hands or legs of feet and was in constant pain. As we prayed for him, God flooded him with fire, he felt hot all over, his neck was freed and he received feeling in his hands and feet and legs, and was jumping up and down as the pain was released from him. They returned the next night, came forward again for more prayer, and he again experienced intense heat throughout his body as God touched him. They stood together and received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

On another evening, an elderly couple came. The lady, in her seventies, has had two strokes and could barely walk even with the aid of crutches and her husband’s help. As we prayed for her healing, Ronnie told her to follow him. She began to walk, without her crutches, and as she shuffled you could see her freeing up, she was almost scurrying around after Ronnie. We were told later, that at home, she was actually raising her legs higher and lifting her knees above her hips. This couple also, accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

Only a few nights ago, a lady in well-advanced stages of cancer came forward for healing. As we prayed for her, Ronnie testified to seeing a ‘lump’ leaving her body, she also testified to a ‘warmth’ flooding through her. She has since testified to being relieved of much discomfort, sleeping better and has turned her heart back to the Lord.

We have seen in numerous families, the hearts of the fathers being turned to the children; testimonies of deep reconciliation and forgiveness between fathers and sons. We have witnessed deliverance of addictions, rejection, secret sin being exposed with repentance following.

We have been very encouraged by testimonies from pastors and visitors from other churches. Many have experienced personal breakthroughs and have seen God begin to move amazingly among the people in their churches. Praise God!

All the meetings have been totally different, as we are endeavouring to allow God to be God. Expectancy is still high, with our hearts desire to see major revival break out in Tasmania.

I ask that you continue to pray for us that God will have His way, that God’s people will take up the challenge of this new day, and that the fires of revival will burn across this State and the nation.

Reproduced from Revive Australia Discussion List, a partner of International Revival Network (IRN): http://www.revivalnet.net - A.Bowling@utas.edu.au~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If there is one place on my travels that I could truly call ‘Heaven on Earth’, it would have to be this one. This time of year is close to the middle of Australia’s Winter, but you would never know it. Loyal locals have a popular saying here: "Queensland! - Sunny one day - perfect the next" and that certainly is proving to be true. Nothing but blue skies, golden sand and clear blue water on beaches that stretch for miles. As a matter of fact, the whole of the East Coast of Australia is practically one long beach.

This little piece of Heaven is situated on the Sunshine Coast just a few miles north of Brisbane, the Capital of the State of Queensland, and is very similar to parts of Florida. There is a very high life style here with some incredibly wealthy homes set on the sides of man-made canals with large boats moored at private jetties. There would be many ministries that could easily hear a ‘call’ to this place, and I must admit, mine might be amongst those tempted.

But some have said that not all is ideal in this ‘lotus-eaters’ paradise. There is a tendency towards a "holiday" mentality, which means that the laid back life-style makes it hard to motivate people. This breeds apathy and indifference, two of the biggest problems for the Church. There is high unemployment because many are attracted to the natural beauty of this place but there are very few jobs. The saying goes that you may come here in a Mercedes, but you will leave in a Volkswagen.

For the last few days I have been ministering at Living Waters Christian Centre, a church that is moving greatly in Revival. Since October last year they have been having extended meetings, sometimes up to 12 meetings a week. At one point, they were having 3000 come through for several weeks in a row. However, they do have a wise pastor, Peter Barr, who is committed to revival but understands that good pastoring and discipleship need to be maintained and developed if this church is going to get to where it is destined to be.

They have guest speakers in every second week or so including some prominent international, national and local speakers that have a heart for Revival. People from many parts of Australia have been coming, with awesome testimonies of healing, restoration, reconciliations, re-direction of lives and salvations. Many have testified of a fresh encounter with God and a new personal intimacy with Him.

There is certainly no lack of life here. It is not just emotional hype, but a genuine excitement for the things of God and it is a joy to preach to this very responsive audience. The church was full for the first two nights. Last night the Power of God hit the young people in a big way. I called every one under the age of 25 to the front. Time after time they were all flattened to the floor, all together and without any one touching them.

I never cease to be thrilled to see the young people reaching out to God with a passion and hunger to have a powerful encounter with Him. They will never doubt or have to take somebody else’s word any more that God is real, because they have felt the touch of His Hand in their hearts for themselves. The assistant youth leader remarked that he had not felt God’s presence as strong as that before. It is gratifying to me, even though I am fifty this August, to know that God is still using me to touch the hearts of young people who would generally only take direction from their peers. I consider it a privilege to be in a position to influence the next generation and I just love being around all that potential and promise for the future.

This morning about fifty youth leaders came to a Leader’s breakfast. I challenged them to get ready to bring in the Greatest Harvest of all time that I believe God is going to soon lead us into. I told them that He will entrust most of this harvest to their generation. Several were visibly moved by the anticipation of this. One young person later testified that she felt excited and scared at the same time. It was almost, she imagined, like a woman about to give birth where there was an great expectation which contained a mixture of excitement about a new life, but also an apprehension about the pain that had to be endured to birth that child. These are indeed the most exciting times but also the most terrifying times to live in - exciting if you know Jesus, terrifying if you don’t !

Tonight there was a youth rally and young people came from all over the district. There was bedlam as the leader was introducing me with most of the kids talking or walking around. But by the time I was giving my challenge to them to rise up and be Champions of the Truth, God’s word must have been going straight to their hearts because there was not a sound, and we saw a huge altar call in response.

Many visitors came to the services today, some from as far away as Toowoomba, a large rural city two and a half hours drive from here. People were excited as I shared about our TV show going out to 24 nations in Europe. I encouraged them to not take for granted the fact that they enjoy one of the highest living standards in the World here in Australia, with some of the best weather and cleanest air to go with it.

Yet someone had to do the hard yards to pave the way for what we have here. Pioneers came from Europe and had to physically break this hard, dry land. But we, and many others, have an opportunity with our TV program to sow something back into Europe in a spiritual sense, which hopefully will do something to break the hard, dry spiritual climate that pervades a lot of that continent.

Several of the young people publicly testified today about how their lives had been changed and that this weekend had made them more happy and excited about God than they had ever been before. One man in his fifties sent this testimony: "Not only did I have a good time but my life has been forever changed. I realize that you are only the messenger and do not seek earthly rewards but, it is good to know of and sometimes see the results of the Holy Spirit moving through you."

I believe that this church will accomplish much for the Kingdom of God. They have a vision to be a thousand strong by the year 2000, and to extend their building to be twice the size that it is now. There is a tremendous enthusiasm, and a great anticipation and excitement about the future. They know where they are going and many will want to go with them.

I came here with the primary motive to bless this church, however I feel that I have been more blessed for being here with these wonderful people.

http://www.pastornet.net/au/renewal