IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY NIGHT

"And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." (Ephesians 2:3-5)

My last blog posting from a couple of weeks ago indicated it is likely I will be posting on my blog much less often in the future and that if and when I post, it will be pieces I feel are of importance and which are not likely to cause me embarrassment later on. This is such a piece. There is no question that what's on this post will seem irrelevant and foolish to some readers. I suppose they have the right to their opinions, but I make no apology for what I post here. We live in a day and hour which many have described as "post Christian"; that is, a day in which subjects such as God, the Bible, eternity, and right and wrong are mocked, laughed at, and scorned, and in which filth in speech and living is seen as not only perfectly O.K. but impressive and desirable. I absolutely reject the "post Christian" attitude and values of our day! At Bread of Life Church in Westminster this morning, we heard a truly great sermon by the Rev. David Arnett, the new President of Northpoint Bible College (formerly Zion) in Haverhill, MA. I'm not one to take sermon notes, but I made it a point to write down the exact words of one of his sentences:

"I want to walk in and not just talk about God's presence; I want to experience God's presence."

Arnett was lamenting the professionalism, predictability, and mediocrity which is the norm at services in many (most?) evangelical and Pentecostal churches in America today. I am ashamed to admit that I led many a service that was characterized by professionalism, predictability, and mediocrity. Granted, not all of them were; but too many services I led were this way. And, too many services I've attended are similar. (Thank God, services at Bread of Life are not typically of this fashion.) I want to be so careful how I write this because the last thing I want to do is to try to exalt myself. I will say I smiled as Dr. Arnett spoke those words, because as hard as it may be for some to believe, the kind of service where God is experienced DID happen on Friday night in downtown Framingham. I was most privileged to be a part of it. Did it happen because I was there? No; it happened possibly in spite of the fact that I was there, but a small group of people really did experience a powerful move of God in downtown Framingham on Friday night.

The service was a service of prayer and unity planned and promoted by "Churches United in Christ Ministries". That organization is very small at this point. It's the vision of Bob Gill of Framingham. Bob is a good personal friend of mine. An ordinary blue collar worker, Bob came to Christ in the 1990s. Bob felt called of God to the ministry and in 2001 began taking correspondence courses toward ministerial credentialing from the Assemblies of God's "Berean College of the Bible". It was a hard road for Bob, but in a couple of years' time he completed his ministerial courses. Today he is Ordained by a group headquartered in Alabama and he's a member of New Hope Church (Assemblies of God) in Marlborough. For several years, Bob has had the vision of getting pastors and churches together and seeing God move as a result of the prayer, humility, and repentance of diverse Christians from diverse churches. It's been a very slow and difficult road to get churches and pastors together, but on Friday night at the Brazilian "Philadelphia Baptist Church" across the street from Dunkin' Donuts in downtown Framingham around thirty people came together for a prayer service. The speakers included Pastor Murillo DaSilva who leads Philadelphia Baptist, Pastor Rob Woods of New Hope Church (Assemblies of God) in Marlboro, Pastor Dan Condon of the fairly new Meeting Place Church (Assemblies of God) in Framingham, Pastor Jesus Munoz of the Spanish-speaking Celebration International Church in Framingham, Pastor Gary Lee pastor of a small predominantly African-American Church in Randolph, Pastor Rob Paiva of Living Water Church in Marlborough, and me. Honestly, considering the fact that I pastored a church which closed and that my reputation has suffered, I questioned whether I should even have been included. I did share from Acts chapter twelve about the power of prayer and it seemed to be well received. I would be remiss if I did not mention another speaker who was layman Ron Sebastian from Faith Community Church of Hopkinton (formerly First Congregational Church). Ron has a heart for pastors and a tremendous burden to see a genuine move of God in our area. The impressive thing about the service was not the speaking, however, although each speaker was very good. The most impressive thing was the prayer time at the altar. The sense of God's presence was very powerful. Some of us have read from the history books about what revival services were like decades and centuries ago. A friend of Ron Sebastian's named Brad told me after the service that the second he walked into the building on Friday night he felt God's anointing there. It's controversial in some circles but several people were prayed for and were "slain in the Spirit" or as some say, "fell down under the power of God". I know that a lot of this behavior in other services and venues has indeed been forced and phony and I know that a number of people are skeptical about it, but all I can say is THIS WAS THE REAL THING. I have since learned that a couple of people have testified of genuine healings after having been prayed for on Friday night.

True, there were only around thirty people at the service, and it did not make the newspapers or television, but (no kidding) I saved my notes and printed order of service from Friday night because I believe it will be looked up in the future as having been such a significant event. Pastor Jesus Monoz boldly proclaimed (regarding revival in the MetroWest area) "It starts HERE TONIGHT!" I agree.

Pastor Rob Woods from New Hope Church in Marlborough posted this comment on Facebook on Saturday: "I thank God for the way He used Robert Gill to lead the Churches United In Christ service last night at Philadelphia Baptist Church. Praying with fellow pastors from different denominations and experiencing the power of God touch people was amazing. Father, do more! I pray for all the churches represented to see the move of God in their services like we saw His presence fall last night!"

The next "Churches United in Christ" prayer service is scheduled to be hosted by Living Water Church at 204 Main Street in downtown Marlborough on January 24 at 7 (snow date is January 31). You ought to mark that down on your calendar!