It's a Boy

I drove across the country in 1992 to the General Conference that was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I was seeking direction for my life. I was fresh out of college, and I was wanting a clear word from the Lord, some sense of clarity about my future. I had preached before conference in Illinois and Missouri and the state of Arkansas, but I hadn't yet settled on the place that God had for me going forward. I told myself as I drove across the country, maybe this conference will give me at least some sense of direction for my life.

And our then general superintendent, Nathaniel A. Urshan, stood in the pulpit on that Friday night and preached. And as he was closing his message, James Kilgore came to the pulpit to close out the service with that trademark tear in his voice. He asked, "How many of you came tonight looking for direction in your ministry? If that's you, I want you to come as close as you can to this platform." I was sitting way up high in that arena. I got up and quickly made my way down as close as I could to the platform. I simply asked God, as I stood there in Salt Lake City: "Speak to me, Lord. Give me Your direction for my—" Kilgore said, "Before we pray tonight, I need to tell you a story of how I too came to a general conference many years ago seeking direction." He said, "I needed to hear from God." He said it was 1952; that General Conference happened to be held in Little Rock, Arkansas. And when he said that, I didn't hear any other word that he said. I wept in prayer, knowing that God had given me a direct word about where I would go next.

I want you to think about this with me. God spoke to a minister 70 years ago at a general conference, who then spoke to a minister 30 years ago at a general conference. Why don't you join me in believing that God is going to speak to somebody at general conference tonight, just like He did before? I wish you would lift up your hands right now, and your hearts and your voices, and say: "Lord Jesus, would You speak in this house in the next few minutes?" Come on, I wish you would lift up your voice and say, "Speak, Lord Jesus. Speak to young men. Speak to young women. Speak to elders. Speak to pastors. Let Your direct and clear word come in this house tonight." And for that, Lord, we're going to thank You. Do it again, Lord. Do it again in our midst, Lord Jesus, just like You have done time and time again. Would You speak again in this conference? For that we're going to thank You and give You the glory and the praise. In Jesus' mighty name. And everyone would say: Amen. God bless you. You may be seated.

I am truly grateful for the United Pentecostal Church International. This fellowship has been so good to me and my family. As a dad, there is a great joy in knowing that my kids' heroes are in this church called the United Pentecostal Church International. To all of our general officials, our North American Missions leaders and committee, I give you thanks and I honor you. To all of the great ministers from the Arkansas District that are here tonight, and their spouses — the truly anointed men and women of God in Orlando this week — I love all of you. My dear wife Stacy, who has been my constant strength in ministry, and I love taking this adventure with you. Her mother drove by a church plant a number of years ago, when Stacy was just a child. My mother-in-law at the time was not serving the Lord, and she pulled into the parking lot because she heard from this church plant people singing, and it got her curiosity. She decided to stop in there with her daughter, and she came to the Lord in the power of apostolic faith. So the DNA for church planting has been put in my wife for a long, long time. My children, Madison and Landon, of whom I am so thankful and proud. My parents are here tonight, who have exampled truth to me and raised me to love this truth. You already saw him on the screen and in person, but my pastor, Jim Lumpkin, and his wife Jolene — they are our heroes, and I give honor to my pastor. And then several of our pastoral team from New Life that are here tonight: Pastor Nate, Sister Ashley, and other members of our team, and our great church family that's watching and praying for their pastor tonight at home. I give honor to all of you, and I love you.

"Now these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph."

A general conference on Wednesday night, I have an announcement to make. And my announcement is simply this: it's a boy. I wish you would turn to two or three people and boldly declare to them right now: it's a boy.

Oh, the joys of the early days of church planting. Fledgling church services in living rooms, rented sanctuaries and storefronts. Teaching leadership classes to the seven people that we had coming at that time, because that's what people were doing then. Pastors were teaching leadership in their churches, so I felt like in order to be a pastor I needed to teach leadership classes in our new church. I remember one evening while I was teaching passionately about leadership, one of the elder ladies looked at me and she announced, in front of God and everybody, "Brother Gaddy, why exactly are we doing this?" That'll put a damper on your leadership. Or maybe the two guests that came to Friends Day, sitting in the corner of our small sanctuary, who took Friends Day literally — passionately kissing while I was reading my text, getting ready to preach. One of the ushers had to step in and break it up. Happy days. There really is nothing like it. In fact, if ministry has grown stale to you, plant a church. It'll liven it up.

Then there was the evening that Robert called me. We were in revival. We were very excited about revival. And Robert called me on a Friday evening. He said, "Pastor, I'm not going to be able to be at revival tonight. I have to work. But I was wondering, would it be okay if you baptized me before I went to work?" Well, of course — I'm a church planter. And so we made arrangements to meet at the church about five o'clock. And he showed up with his wife Heather, and I showed up with my wife Stacy. Just the four of us. We walked into our small sanctuary, and we had a black horse trough that we were using at the time to baptize people. And I told Robert where he could go and change — we didn't even have any baptismal robes; he just changed into whatever was comfortable for him — and he walked into our sanctuary. I had filled up the baptistry. And he said, "Pastor, can I talk to you for a minute?" I said, "Yeah, yeah." So he kind of pulled me off to the side. The wives were talking over on the other side of the sanctuary by themselves. And he pulled me off to the side and he said, "Pastor, I've just got a favor to ask you." I said, "Yeah, man, whatever you need." He said, "When you baptize me in just a moment, when you put me down, would you let me just stay under the water for a few moments, just to think about the sacredness of the moment?" I have to confess to you, I had never had anybody say that to me, never asked that. I said, "Robert, let me make sure I'm hearing you right. You want me, when I put you under the water, to basically just hold you under the water?" He said, "Yes, sir." I said, "How will I know when you're ready to come up?" He said, "I'll just shake my arm." Now I have to pause for just a moment and remind you: Robert has just told me that Heather and Stacy know nothing about this conversation.

And so I went over and I knelt down next to the horse trough. I had him plug his nose. And the wives are on the other side of the horse trough, and I'm kneeling on this side, and Robert is sitting on the bottom of the horse trough. He's holding his nose. And I said, "Robert, upon the confession of your faith and your obedience to the Word of God, I now baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." And I plunged him under the water, and I just held him there. Now, how many of you know there is a cadence to a water baptism: pronouncement, dip, lift, praise. And so I got the pronouncement, and I got the dip, and the ladies started to praise. You got to understand this: it was a very awkward moment. I am over a baptistry, looking at a man under the water. I'm thinking, did he give me the signal, and I missed it? But he wasn't struggling, and the bubbles weren't coming up. And after what seemed like 40 minutes, but really it was about five or six seconds, he kind of shook his arm, and I thought, whether that was the signal or not, he's coming up. I brought him up out of the water, and spontaneous praise broke out: "Thank You, Lord, for washing his sins away." He dried off and changed his clothes, and we bid him adieu. He went to work. His wife left. And we're smiling. We get in the car, and the passenger door closes, and my wife looks at me and says, "What was that all about?" Happy days.

This small community of Israelites, who first settled in Goshen, were all members of just one family. Their early days were filled with happiness and prosperity. You see, God had promised that they would grow into a nation. And over the following centuries they increased in numbers and influence, until they were dominating the whole of the northeast part of Egypt. Started out as a happy arrangement — a people who were well accommodated for; they were very accepted. But what began as a family reunion of 70 had now become a fruitful, abundant, exceeding mighty people. And truly the land was filled with them. But the longer time went on, it became more and more evident that God's people's destiny was never going to be Egypt. Because the ascension of a new king meant the end of all privileges for God's people. Even their lands and their liberties, over time, were stripped away. And so in order for Pharaoh to cut down on this exponential growth of the Israelites, he had to break them in spirit. He had to produce in them a mindset that would make their escape absolutely impossible. It was in this context that this new king spoke of his greatest fear concerning these followers of Jehovah God: "Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply."

Hell's biggest fear is not our ability. Hell's biggest fear is not our fundraising. Hell's biggest fear is not our charisma. But hell's greatest fear is that we would multiply. Hell fears if multiplication takes place in the church. Please hear me tonight. If we are talented, we can impress people. If we fundraise well, we can expand budgets — and we should. If we have great charisma, we can attract people to us. But if we multiply, hell fears. If we multiply, because if we multiply, we will see more people come into the kingdom through water baptism and Spirit baptism. If we multiply, we will see more disciples of Jesus who make more disciples of Jesus. If we multiply, we will have more people hearing the call of God to plant daughter works and preaching points and self-governing churches. If we multiply, we will have more churches planted. If we multiply, those churches will grow more disciples who will hear the call to plant more churches. If we multiply.

I am asking God to lead us back to the multiplication of the church. I am asking the Lord on this Wednesday night to let a spirit and a passion and a hunger for multiplication to grip every pastor, every assistant pastor, every youth pastor, every saint of God, every person of the Lord. I am asking God to let a multiplication anointing rest upon us. If we multiply.

I remember when I first got my ministerial license 30 years ago. Billy Cole — and it was referenced last night — was taking crusade teams into countries and literally seeing hundreds of thousands of people filled with the Holy Ghost. I was brand new in ministry, fresh in ministry, and I was so excited to hear these reports. It was far beyond anything that I had ever experienced. It was far beyond anything that I had ever heard about. And yet somehow I believed it, because multiplication has always been God's idea. Regrettably, however, I heard some ministers who doubted the numbers, questioned the methods. And as a new minister, they almost cast doubt upon my faith. But then, with the grace of God, He allowed me to find some friends and surround myself with some ministers who declared: "With God, all things are possible. With God, all things are possible. With God, mountains can be cast into the sea. With God, breakthroughs can come in our midst. With God, all things are possible." Come on. I believe it's God's will to pour out His Spirit in a manifest way in the last days. And tonight I believe multiplication is God's will for the church. Multiplication is God's will for us. I speak it. I declare it in this house. I speak a multiplication anointing about our church. Come on, brothers and sisters, we've got to multiply. We've got to multiply. We've got to multiply. This is our destiny. We can see the outpouring that we've been praying for. We can see the outpouring of the Holy Ghost that we've been praying for decades to see. We are seeing the outpouring of the Holy Ghost that we have been asking for.

Now I know, I know this is subjective. I get that. But each generation has their giants of faith. But as a middle-aged preacher now, I can reach my hand back to the days of heroes like N. A. Urshan. Brother Urshan had an aura about him that, when he walked into the room, as far as I was concerned, it preceded him. I was at the General Conference in Detroit in 1997, a young preacher. I was up on the eighth floor of the hotel, waiting for the elevator, just by myself, nobody around. And when the elevator — when the elevator doors opened, Brother Urshan was standing by himself in the elevator. And I froze. We stood there for several awkward seconds. He didn't say anything. But if you were to look at the bubble over his head, it would have been screaming, "Are you getting in or not?" I was paralyzed, and the doors just shut. Heroes like Cleveland Becton, E. L. and Nona Freeman. I was at the Landmark Conference many years ago, sitting on the platform, and somehow, inexplicably, I was seated between E. L. and Nona Freeman. Let me pause and repeat that. A platform coordinator should have lost their job over this. I was seated between E. L. Freeman on this side and Nona Freeman on this side. Robert Bayer was preaching that night, quoting the Bible — awesome message. But I suppose at one point he thought people weren't getting with him enough, and he said, "Turn to your neighbor right now and say, Get with it, you stick in the mud." And I look this way, and I thought, no, no, no, I'm not going to say that. Then I look this way: no, no, I'm not going to say that. Heroes like Charles Mahaney, T. F. Tenney, J. T. Pugh, Merle Ewing. And at least for me, it seems as if all too swiftly — as the Scripture said of Joseph — these men and women died, and all their brethren, and all that generation.

And yet it is in the wake of the seismic loss of these Pentecostal heroes that it is as if the Scriptures are still repeating themselves today. And the children of Israel, the people of God, the United Pentecostal Church International, was fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty. Raised millions of dollars, and football stadiums were filled with them. Can you go with me and catch a glimpse of what God is doing among us right now? In 1945, there were 1,838 ministers at the formation of the United Pentecostal Church. This year, in 2022, 11,267 ministers in the United States and Canada alone. In 2022, total consolidated assets of nearly 178 million dollars. Revenues have increased over 38 million from just 10 years ago. Contributions have increased 9.6 million dollars in the last 12 months. God has been good to us. God has been faithful to us. I think we ought to thank Him right now. I think we ought to offer praise to Him right now. Thank You for Your blessings, Lord. Thank You for Your goodness, Lord. You are so faithful.

Can you hear this preacher tonight when I say, we must resist the urge to get drunk on blessings and forget that hell has a strategy intended to defeat God's people? The evil king declared it. He said it to his people: "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more, and they are mightier than we." So his evil scheme was enacted on God's people. "Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with burdens." Everybody say: burdens. Shout it out. Say: burdens.

Six times in the first six chapters of Exodus it is declared what was done to God's people — actions that were taken against God's people so that others, not God-fearing people, would determine the current environment; others, not God's people, would determine the culture in which God's people would live. Their holy existence would be so different than the citizens of Egypt. Things will be done to the people of God to accentuate to them that this world is not our home. And I rise in this pulpit tonight to remind every born-again believer under the sound of my voice: we are just pilgrims and strangers passing through this world. I preach to wonderful people of God who are trying prayerfully to navigate an out-of-control culture with godly submission, heavenly wisdom, strong-as-we-can resolve. But please hear me: burdens — what was done to God's people has never stopped God's church. I'm going to say that one more time. What hell has done has never stopped God's church. It was in Acts chapter 4 that Peter and John are apprehended, committed to prison. Their question, when that burden brought them before leaders — they declared: "By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." It was in Acts chapter 8 that Saul made havoc of the church and committed them to prison. What did the church do when this burden came? The Bible says, "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word" of the Lord. Burdens will never stop the church. What is done will never stop the church.

When burdens didn't work, the Bible says that Egypt made their lives bitter. This speaks of not just what the enemy does, but how he does it. None of us — not a person in this Wednesday night service — are ignorant to the fact that increasingly in our culture there is an ostracizing of men and women of godly conviction. There is the mocking of righteousness. It is a mentality and an attitude toward God's people. Somebody hear me preach tonight: we've got to reckon this. The devil hates God's people. The devil doesn't just not like us. The devil hates us. But we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but rather against principalities that are arrayed against the church, against powers that hate God's church, against rulers of darkness that despise God's people. Please remember, it was hatred that stirred up people enough to crucify Jesus. Conservative people used to be the majority, but attitudes have quickly changed. We're now called narrow-minded. We're now called intolerant. It's not just the burden of a changing environment, but it's also the bitterness of the attitude toward the church. But just like the children of Israel: the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. The more you try to put them down, Jesus just raises them right back up. The more hell fights, the greater the church becomes. The more hell pushes, the more the church pushes back. Come on. Burdens can't stop this church. Bitterness can't stop this church. Mentalities can't stop this church.

So when burdens couldn't stop them, and bitterness wouldn't impede them, the ultimate strategy was unleashed: kill the babies. It was a battle for birth. The cradle will be the battleground. If you kill the babies, eventually you don't exist anymore. It might take a while. We might rejoice for a while. But if you kill the babies, eventually we don't exist. If we become satisfied with the blessings and lose our core mission, eventually we will fade away.

"And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah. He said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live."

"Ladies, come here. I know what your job is. You are the ones who help the mothers have their babies. But I want you to hear what I have to say to you. If, while you are helping that Jewish woman give birth, you deliver the baby and it's a girl — cuddle with that girl. Cherish that girl. Swaddle that baby. But if she bears a son, kill it." Sounds of infants being born is echoing throughout the room, and Shiphrah and Puah are going about their duties — cleaning and helping and supporting and encouraging. "Who will go over there? She's — she's ready to give birth. She needs our help." Who assumes her duty? And before long there's a cry of an infant piercing through every other cry in the delivery room. "[Shiphrah?] — it's a boy! [She] just had a boy! What do we do? I don't know." Because the Bible doesn't say that — they perhaps huddled together, and some resolve came in the backbone: "We've got to fear God right now. The name must go on. Shiphrah, we can't listen to the king. We can't listen to his decree, because if we listen to his decree, the name of our people will die. It may not happen today. It may not happen tomorrow. But if we listen to that king, we're going to die. We have to protect the delivery room. We've got to make sure that the name of our people goes on and on and on and on. We've got to make sure that there's a future for the people of God. We've got to make sure that families are born to the name of our God."

Oh, I am rising on this Wednesday night to declare to the United Pentecostal Church: we must protect the delivery room. We must protect the delivery room. Come on, Pastor. This has to go on. This name has to go on. This gospel has to go on. Come on. I'm not preaching the departmental slogan right now. I am preaching the mission of the apostolic church. This thing has to go on. This thing must go on. The name must be propelled. Come on, somebody lift up your voice with me right now. Come on, say it's got to go on. "It's got to go on. It's got to go on." Come on, United Pentecostal Church. If we will absolutely submit to what God is calling us to, it's going to solve the leadership question.

Pharaoh tried to stop it, but when the midwives respected God, Moses was born. A leader was born. And there arose not a prophet greater than Moses himself. Herod tried to stop birth, but wise men listened to the voice of the Lord, and when they protected that infant and protected that child, they let live the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and the Great I Am, and the Mighty God, and the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Somebody help us protect the delivery room.

Hell's greatest fear is that we would multiply. I preach to every pastor here tonight: birth something. Start something. Yield to something. I preach to every young preacher here in this conference center tonight: start something. Birth something. Yield to something.

In just a moment, I'm going to have us stand, and we're going to give very clear direction as to what God — I believe — will do in the next few moments. Much will be done that we don't know about, but I do know some things He will do tonight. But before we get to that point, the Holy Ghost prompted me several days ago and said to me, there is going to be a spirit of intercessory prayer that sweeps across General Conference on a Wednesday night. And there are going to be shackles that have held church planting for far too long, that are going to break loose off of somebody's life in this house tonight. There's going to be a spirit of prayer that starts from one side of this conference center and sweeps all the way to the other side of this conference center. Come on. I feel a word from the Lord tonight. "When Zion travails, she shall bring forth." I wonder if there would be a shout and an intercession that would rise up at this General Conference. I wonder if men and women would lift up their voice. Come on, United Pentecostal Church. There is the sound of new babies. There is the sound of a delivery room. There's the sound of intercession for souls. Oh God. Come on, Mama, pray out loud right now. Come on, Daddy, intercede right now. Come on, let there be an intercession in your spirit that gives birth. Come on. It's happening in Orlando tonight. It's happening in Orlando tonight. There is the sound of intercession that is breaking loose in the Holy Ghost in Orlando tonight.

Come on, in every section, in every seating area, let intercession break loose. Let the power of God break loose. It's souls. It's souls. It's new churches. I wish there'd be some prayer warriors that would step out into the aisle and begin to lift up your voice like a trumpet and say, "God, we want it. We want it. We want it. We want it. We want it." Come on, young people. Travail. Travail. Intercede. Call out to the Lord. Oh yes. Oh yes. Oh yes. Come on. That's it. That's it. We're stepping on holy ground. We're stepping on holy ground. Prayer will precede the outpouring. Prayer will precede the birth. Prayer will precede the outpouring. Come on, let's press a little bit more right now. Let's press in a little bit more right now. Let's press a little further right now. Come on. It's a boy. It's a boy. That name's going to go forward. That family's going to go forward. That lineage is going to go forward.

Amen. Now, like every young preacher — every young preacher, man and woman — I want you to come as close as you can. Every young preacher, man and woman, I want you to come as close as you can. I am calling every pastor in this conference hall right now to come as close as you can. I want you to grab that commitment card, and I want you to come as close as you can. I want you to press in as close as you can. I want you to reach down and grab that card and come as close as you can.

Oh, brother, sister, I am asking God to make church planting as normal a part of a conversation as teaching Bible studies and witnessing to people. We must protect the delivery room. Without doubt, there are going to be men and women in this altar who will follow the lead of the Pentecostals of Gainesville, just 115 miles from here. Pastor Tony said, "We need a Spanish church." So they started a Spanish church in Gainesville. He said, "Lake City, 46 miles away — the next town deserves a daughter work." And so in Lake City, this coming weekend, the gospel will be preached, and souls will hear. Another daughter work was planted in Alachua, Florida, and this coming Sunday the truth of God's Word will be declared in that [town].

Pastor Chad Flowers, the pastor of an established church where Bishop Richard Flowers is [bishop], said, "We looked right around us — there were 24,000 souls in the next town of Forney, Texas — and we're starting a daughter work in Forney."

Or maybe there's an Oscar Ramos in this room — a young man from North Little Rock, Arkansas, who looked around and said, "We need a move of God among the Hispanics of North Little Rock." So, with the oversight of his pastor, planted a wonderful revival church in North Little Rock. But he wasn't satisfied. He looked about 50 miles to the west and saw the city of Hot Springs, and said, "I have church in North Little Rock on Sunday night, but I can go in the morning to Hot Springs." And so he started another daughter work. Pastor, two churches: one in North Little Rock, and the other in Hot Springs. But when he had to drive from Hot Springs back to North Little Rock for Sunday night service, he drove through Benton, Arkansas. He said, "They need a church here." So Brother Ramos and his sweet wife and family are not pastoring one church. They're not pastoring two churches. They're pastoring three churches.

I preach tonight, declare to you: I'm not asking you to have a steeple on a building by next year. I'm not asking you to have pews. But what this great ministry of this United Pentecostal Church is challenging — this great fellowship — is: start something. Stand outside of the delivery room and make sure that new birth and new churches go on and on and on.

And now I want you to hold up that card right now. Leaders that have the cards — if you see some that are not holding up a card, I want you to put one in their hand very quickly. Young men, young ladies: obviously, everything you do, if you are not a pastor, needs to be under the governance and the advisement and the prayer covering of your pastor. But I wonder how many here tonight would hear the call of the Holy Ghost to protect that delivery room and start something, with God's help. I may not have it all figured out. In fact, I may have nothing figured out. But what I do know is, God is calling me, and God is pressing me in the Holy Ghost, and God is pushing me in the spirit. I may not even know the city yet. I may just put down a city on the card. But you feel that nudge of the Holy Ghost — you feel that nudge, Pastor, to start that daughter work, to start that preaching point. I want you should hold that card up to the Lord as a commitment and say, "God, this is Yours."

Come on, that's it. Come on. Lift up your voice. Lift up your voice. Lift up your voice. Lift up your voice. Lift up your voice. Come on, that's it. That's it, young man. That's it, young ladies. That's it, Pastor. Come on, Pastor. You can do it. You can start that preaching point. You can start that daughter work. You can have that home Bible study. You can do it. We can do this. Come on. I wish you would reach over and lay your hand on somebody. Let the body of Christ minister to the body of Christ. Come on, leaders, help us pray right now. Come on, pastors, listen to the voice of the Holy Ghost right now. That's it. That's it. It's a boy. It's a boy. The name's going on. Let the gifts of the Spirit operate right now. Let the gifts of the Holy Ghost flow through you right now. We release those gifts to operate in Jesus' name.