Volume 5: Old School Tent Revivals

 

      The Luke 10 trip behind us paved the way for a new adventure. We were planning to hit the road as a school to do a tent revival RV tour around the United States. North Carolina and Chicago were a definite but the next location was yet to be determined. There were several venues open to us coming; one was set in stone and that was Chicago. The other options I believe were Kansas City, Minnesota or Florida. The first tent meeting at the ark in North Carolina was under way. It was a powerful time of worship, deliverance and healing. People came from all over for it. I ended up praying for a man who had never been baptized or spoke in tongues. We baptized him and prayed for Him to receive the Holy Spirit. It took WAY longer than I've seen others receive it, but eventually after about 15 minutes he began to pray in tongues. I was so excited! It was the first time I had prayed for someone to receive the Spirit and it happened! Oh that we would have the faith to see people receive the Lord in a moment! May the Lord help our unbelief! So many things took place at this tent meeting and the most important thing being that Jesus was absolutely glorified!

    After the tent revival, the school was coming to an end. A wonderful journey with an incredible community that would indeed change our lives forever. We had a meeting about the next venue. Torben was sharing how there was several options, but that the Minnesota and Kansas City doors had closed. He told us all that during the previous tent revival a gentleman came and was touched greatly. He went home and sent a video of a potential location to Torben. Through consideration and prayer, leadership decided we should take up the invitation. So He shared the the location after Chicago would be New Ipswich, New Hampshire. No-one in the room knew where that was and there were crickets as he said announced it. Except for me, I exclaimed "What?!" Being puzzled at this news. A generous amount of people from the church I went to in Greenville were from New Ipswich! Even my old boss was born there! I would be going with TLR to a community full of people that I know! I was so excited and shared with everyone how crazy it was that God opened that door. That led to confirmation and excitement for others. The majority of the community were of Finnish decent and were Lutheran churchgoers. So Torben also coming from that background and being from the Lutheran church himself made it seem even more confirming. I was ecstatic, I could not believe that would be our next spot. Hearing my old boss, Colin Sikkila, talk about New Hampshire had always peaked my interest in going, and now we would be.

    Graduation took place with dinner, music, worship and fellowship. Such a wonderful time in North Carolina at the Ark. God led us there and it was for a reason. I had needed the fear of the Lord in my life. I've always struggled with lawlessness, continually needing forgiveness for the same thing over and over. Repentance isn't saying sorry for something and doing it again. Repentance is turning from sin and changing the way we think about it. Seeing it as death and not life, realizing we were not made for it-- we were made for God! Some folks walk solely in Gods love and His tender mercy, which are there! But it allows for sin to be present and compromise to stay. Some people only walk in the fear of the Lord and have no grace and no mercy. Their lives are free from worldly things, but there is no love. We must walk the narrow path where a perfect balance of Gods love and the fear of the Lord keep us holy and loving. The Gospel has the power to do this in our lives if we are willing.

    With a long drive to Chicago ahead we had bittersweet feelings. Sad to leave some of the people who were going back home to their lives, but yet excited to hit the road with TLR and see His Kingdom come.

Twelve hours and we were in Chicago, the moment we got into the city Hannah and I looked at each other. A feeling came over us, not a good one. A darkness was upon that city and we both felt it. Greater is He who is in us. Light shines brighter in the darkness. As a family, we were staying with someone local, along with other families. I won't get into the parenting dynamic we faced in this time living house to house but it wasn't easy. We helped set the tent up and were ready to begin. This was right in the middle of covid in one of the most oppressed cities in America. We couldn't get into many places without a mask and all of us traveling to Chicago raised concerns with locals about our event in general. Many were fearful of covid spreading and considered our meetings as dangerous and irresponsible. The Gospel must be preached though, no matter what. Though the earth be destroyed, His Word endures forever. 

    This event was crazy, we had the local news there constantly. The police came to try and shut it down. There were talks of fines or even being arrested for breaking local ordinances. We stood our ground in love and prayed without ceasing. There was so much witchcraft going on during this event. Even one night a crazy storm came out of nowhere. The sky was purple and looked angry. Being in a tent is not ideal for one of the windy cities storms. We locked hands and prayed fervently. The storm got closer. We kept praying and calling upon the name of the Lord. Then it seemed to dissipate right in front of us. Below are pictures of what happened. You can see the storm heading our way and then right over us it weakens. 

Before this storm came, there was a gentleman sitting in one of the chairs doing very strange things during the meeting. He was making all types of different hand motions and causing people to be distracted. I was on security and a sister from Africa came to me and said that this guy was doing witchcraft. So we quickly went over to him and took him aside. We asked, "what are you doing here?" He said, "calling the storms...." We are in a war, the kingdom of darkness vs the Kingdom of Light. We were there to set people free by this precious Gospel and the enemy sent poor souls to corrupt the Lord's plans. He was not willing to repent or even consider prayer so we escorted him out. He actually snuck over the fence three more times. The first time he was there he actually threw a hindu god medallion on the ground in the tent. I picked it up to remove it and throw it away. A brother said that I shouldn't hold that, so I immediately dropped it. Then my whole arm went numb. Not gonna lie, I panicked a bit. Someone prayed over it and the numbness left. The other time the guy came back my leg went numb as we were escorting him out. I told a brother who looked down at my leg, kicked it slightly with his foot while saying "stop in Jesus name." To my surprise the numbness left immediately. I learned in that moment that the power of darkness has power through fear and manipulation. But greater is He who is in us!

    There was also a witch dressed in all white and a guy that, no kidding, looked like a wizard. He even had a staff. Our friend Julie went to talk to him and he would go in and out of being normal. He would say crazy things and, at one point tried, to bite Julie. Before that she asked "why do you have the staff," he said, "to summon all the people." Chicago was a bizarre place. Full of darkness; yet at the same time had so many people longing for more of the Lord. We saw many get delivered of demons, many get baptized and many get born again. It was an incredible week that was as intense as it was fruitful. The local government, the news and even other christians tried to stop it, but you cannot stop the advancement of Christ's Kingdom. It is a Kingdom with which there is no end.

    The tent meeting was over, so much more happened than what I described here. Jesus is life and if we lay our lives down we will experience true Life only found in Him. He Himself said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." and also "So likewise any of you who does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple." Severe words from our loving Savior. The call is great, but few answer it. What husband only wants his wife one day a week or what husband would be willing to share his wife with another person? But we share our love with so many other things. We have other lovers when Christ calls us to give Him everything. Give it all to Him; His love is so great and His presence is life itself.

    From Chicago we were on a journey to New Hampshire. The van started acting up halfway there. Oh the "adventures" you find yourself in on the road. We make a call to the mechanic that had been traveling with us and he said if I can make it to New Hampshire he could look at it. So we prayed and we drove...

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