What on Earth Am I Doing

Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let's exalt His name together. Would you just lift your voice and shout to the Lord right now? Come on, shout a little bit longer right now. Hallelujah. We magnify You, Lord. We glorify Your name, Lord. Hallelujah. Why don't you turn to someone near you, look at him, and say, "I'm so glad you didn't miss this day." My, my, my, my, my. What a tremendous atmosphere of God's presence.

I came to my first Because of the Times in 1991. And I was built up, torn down. I wept, I shouted, I danced — and then they had the next preacher come up. But Stacy and I, and my daughter Maddie, who is here with the PK conference, are so honored to be among you. And it is good to be in the house of the Lord today. We are very blessed by a lot of people at our church in Cabot today that are praying for us. And I especially want to thank this conference — Brother Mangan, the leaders of this conference — for the spirit of expectation that resides here. In particular, my wife and I came last year to Because of the Times, and in a service we lifted up my wife's mother to the Lord, who had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. And God intervened in that moment. In this conference today, she is playing the keyboard, she is teaching Sunday school, she's speaking at churches all over the Boston area, and she is cancer free. I thank God for the spirit of expectation that resides in this conference. And I am believing that God is going to continue to speak to us.

I've been assured by the Lord this morning that at the close of this message there's going to be a powerful sweeping of God's presence, and there's going to be one-on-one personal prayer, preacher to preacher, preacher's wife to preacher's wife. God is getting ready to do amazing things in our midst, and I give Him all the praise.

Matthew chapter 6 and verse 7 is where I will direct your attention. Thank you. Thank you for all of your kindness and all of the prayers that people said they've prayed for me. I appreciate that so very, very much. Matthew 6 — familiar passage throughout this conference week. Verse 7: "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Would you say the last part of that tenth verse with me: "in earth, as it is in heaven."

I've come to this pulpit on this Thursday morning to preach a question. And it is simply this: What on earth am I doing? I'd like you to turn and ask someone that right now: What on earth am I doing? Would you pray one more time? Would you set your Bible down and lift up your hands to the Lord? Say, "God, I'm open. I'm ready. I want Your Spirit to flow. Let the Word speak to me, Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ" — for You alone deserve the glory and the honor. Lord, I thank You for the marvelous touch of Your Spirit. I thank You for the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. Prepare our hearts right now, Lord. Do what only You can do in the next few moments, in the name of Jesus Christ. And everyone would just say: Amen. God bless you. You may be seated. Thank you for standing and following along in the Word of the Lord.

I am very grateful to have cut my teeth on an apostolic pew. I'm blessed. I remember hearing that old gospel song that we sang last night, "Have a Little Talk with Jesus" — and in my childhood naivety, thought and was convinced that we were having a little chocolate Jesus, and that got me excited as a kid. I have great memories of prayer lines and baptisms, preaching, potlucks with mediocre casseroles. I remember one day a young man came off of the platform of our home church just outside of Chicago, and he slipped and he fell and landed flat on his face during the altar call, in the middle of the altar. And he was so embarrassed that he just stayed down there, like God had slain him in the spirit. I'm glad I go to that kind of church.

And I was taught as a young boy the Lord's Prayer. And certainly when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He made this very emphatic declaration: pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." The middle of this prayer is what He is doing for us: daily bread, forgiveness of debts, direction away from temptation, deliverance from the evil one. And certainly its culmination is praise: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." But it all starts with where I am placing Him, His name, and His mission today. It all starts with the placement of that Great Commission in our lives. "Our Father in heaven. Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, and Your will be done on earth" — everyone say: on earth — "on earth, as it is in heaven." His kingdom, as has been preached already, defined simply as the domain of the King, the influence of the King, His will, His plan, His directive. And so I must ask myself on this great day of Because of the Times: what am I intentionally doing to expand the influence, the kingdom? And what am I intentionally doing — everybody point to yourself and say: "What am I doing?" — what am I doing to communicate the plan of God here on earth, as it is in heaven?

I might think that I can find some corner somewhere and wait for an ethereal, mystical, creeping-up-on-us entrance into the revival that God has promised for the apostolic church. I can stand on the sideline and say, "Oh Lord, send revival. Oh God, let revival fires fall. Oh Lord, would You send us hungry souls?" Or I can shift my thinking to remember that every soul that I encounter every single day is a candidate for God's grace and God's mercy. I, as a preacher, can go into all the world, preach the gospel, baptize, and make disciples. I want to submit humbly today that there are other important roles of New Testament ministers, but there is none more important than coming into union with Jesus's declared purpose: to seek and to save that which was lost. I want to say that again: there is no job that this preacher can undertake that is more important than me intentionally getting out to where lost people are — the seeking and the saving of that which was lost.

I've got to understand today: His influence, and His will, His plan, His kingdom and His will, is already accomplished in heaven. Everybody in heaven will have come under the influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everybody in heaven will have been confronted with God's saving will. And so our great desire is to get accomplished here on earth what's already accomplished in heaven. I want you to look at someone, point your bony finger in their face, and say, "That means you." I want another preacher to look at another preacher and say, "That means you, and that means me." My great desire is to get accomplished here on earth — it's not done yet — but get accomplished here on earth what's already done in heaven. I'm looking forward to going up yonder. But I'm going to go on record and tell you: I'm not going by myself. I have made up in my mind a long time ago: if my destination is heaven, I'm going to do everything I have to — get out there and reach somebody, talk to somebody, teach a Bible study, reach the lost, seek and save that which was lost. Come on, preachers. That's my job. That's my mandate. That's my commission from the Lord.

I feel a little spirit of Martin Luther coming over me today. He said: "I was born to fight devils and factions. It is my business to remove obstructions, to cut down thorns, to fill up quagmires, and to open and make straight paths. But if I must have some failing, let me rather speak the truth with too great severity, than once to act the hypocrite and conceal the truth." People need Jesus. I know that sounds like something we've heard before, but I want it to ring in my spirit: without Jesus, people are dying and going to hell. This is my job. This is my passion. Come on, brothers and sisters: what am I doing on earth?

I never will forget, in the summer of 1999, I walked into N & N Catfish Restaurant in Cabot. It was my first meal in that town. They have good catfish there. And I sat and ate by myself, because my wife wasn't with me that day. And when I got done eating, I walked outside of the restaurant, and I stepped onto the sidewalk, and I had a revelation come to me. And it was a troubling revelation. And here's what it was. We hadn't had a service yet. We hadn't had a prayer meeting yet. I'd got business cards printed up. It said "Tim Gaddy, pastor." But the only people I was pastoring was my wife and my daughter — and even sometimes that was a little bit... And I stepped onto the sidewalk, and this revelation washed over me, and it was this: I am here to plant an apostolic church, and nobody knows it except me. Nobody. I had a decision to make. I guess I could have walked back in the restaurant and said, "Excuse me, pardon me, your attention please. My name is the Reverend Tim Gaddy, and I'm here to win your soul." I could have done that. But I decided I needed to personally and intentionally get in the harvest field.

And so the next day — my daughter, she was about a year and a half old at the time — we went down to a playground just down from the apartment that we were living in. And there was only one young man on the playground. He was a big old tall kid. He was way oversized for the swing set that he was swinging on. And he was swinging back and forth. And I thought, well, here's a start. I went walking up to him, and I said, "Hey man, my name's Tim." And the big old tall guy looks back at me and said, "Hey, my name's Josh." And just nodding his head like this. I said, "Hey Josh, I just live right down the road in the apartments. Do you live around here?" He said, "Yeah, yeah. I live in the apartments right behind the ones you're saying you live in. I live right behind there." And I thought, well, there's no greater time than the present. I said, "Hey Josh, I'm here to start a church." And Josh — you got to get this kid — Josh looked back to me, and he only had one word he used for every response. He just looked back to me and he said, "Cool." I said, "Josh, I'd like you to come and be in our church and our youth group." Josh looked at me and he said, "Cool." "How many kids are in your youth group?" You know what he said? "Cool." I went and picked him up for church. I walked up to the second-story apartment that he and his mom and his brother lived in. And Josh came with us to church, and sat in the service, and he knew nothing about church. He didn't know how to clap on the two and the four, the one and the three. It was kind of like the quarter and the three-and-seven-eighths he was clapping on. He did not know how to sing. And he would just flail — he'd see people lifting their hands, and he would just kind of flail his arms, and just cause a bunch of ruckus. I remember coming out of the first service with Josh, and I took him back to his apartment. I said, "Josh, what'd you think about church today?" "Oh — cool." We had the privilege of teaching his mother a home Bible study and baptizing the entire family in the name of Jesus Christ. Everybody in the family was filled with the Holy Ghost. He was on our very first youth congress trip that our youth group of six ever went to.

And I had a revelation come to me: if we didn't do our best to reach the lost, we would literally cease to exist. Reaching the lost was more than a side activity of the church. Our future depended on it. But would you hear me on this Thursday morning? Years later — with a building, and a choir, and a staff, and more money — I've had a revelation come to me: if we do not do our best to reach lost people, we might exist in name, we might exist in building, we might exist in reputation, but a glorious and intended future that God has for His church will not exist. If there's a promised revival, I want in on it. If there's an outpouring in 2015, I want in on it. If there's a soul-winning revival, I want to be in the middle of that revival. Come on, my brother. "It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." I want that. I want that. Come on. I wish there'd be some hands lifted, some voices lifted, saying, "God, I want that." Come on, somebody. I want that. I want that outpouring. I want that visitation. I do not want to be guilty of simply praying for the harvest while not being actively and intentionally in the harvest.

A great group called the McIntosh Group — Gary McIntosh heads that up — did a survey a few years ago of 109 growing churches in America. What are the common denominators of these growing congregations? What are the various contributing factors that bring about growth in growing churches? A number of different facets were examined. For instance, the church was very friendly — not just friendly. A high percentage of members were involved in ministry. That makes sense. They were fewer than 10 miles from a Walmart. Some of y'all are going, "Uh-oh." But as I read this survey, the one that jumped off the page at me was this: in 109 growing churches in America, evangelism was the strongest skill of the senior pastor. Because there is an influence over the church towards soul winning when the pastor wins souls. There's something about when a pastor says, "It's not the Outreach Department's job. It's not the home Bible study teacher's job. I'm going—"

"—to be involved in the harvest. I'm going to reach the lost." There's something that happens in a church. Come on, look at somebody and say, "That means you." Come on, turn to someone else and say, "That means me. It's me. It's my responsibility." Everybody in the house, I want you to put your hands up to your mouth like this, and I want you to shout it as loud as you can shout: Go. Come on, one more time, on the count of three. One, two, three: Go.

Preachers and leaders in apostolic churches are praying and saying, "God, send us a revival." And I hear the cry of a Savior saying one word, on a Thursday: Go. "Oh God, we're looking for an outpouring. We're wanting there to be a downpour of Your Spirit." And I sit back in my office and I try to wait for it to happen, when the Spirit of the living God is shouting in me today: Go. "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." "Oh Lord, we need a multicultural revival in our city." John said, "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes." Go. "Oh God, we need more money. Oh, I'm just waiting on one carnal saint to win the Powerball." That's not in the Bible. Look at someone and say, "The Powerball is not in the Bible." But let me tell you what is in the Bible: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel." Go, go, go.

When His purpose comes, my passion — look out — in time, revival will take place at the crossroads of God's purpose and man's passion. That's why Leonard Ravenhill said we should live with eternity's values always in view. And so inherent within this passion to go is the commodity that we work with, and that is people. All sorts of people that love God. People that have a clue. He [Paul] has just exited Athens after a minimal effectiveness in Acts 17. The Apostle Paul comes to Corinth. And when he comes to Corinth, embedded within that visit are principles — and may I say it like this — what I feel the Lord speaking to us as a church is the types of people that He is going to give us as we go. You see, Corinth would become — and Ephesus after that — a place where Paul would reside in ministry. It would be more than just a casual trip. But for over a year and a half he would set up shop there, and he would minister, reaching people.

It's found in Acts 18 and verse 7, where the Scripture declares that "he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus" — everyone say: Justus — "one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue." And it is this man that gave the Apostle Paul access to the harvest field, next door in the synagogue. It was an apostolic process for Paul to go into the synagogue and reason — the first existence of home Bible studies in the Bible — reasoning with them from the Scriptures. And it was this one man's house that gave him that access. His house joined hard; it was right next to — Paul camped out there, and he became a soul winner. I believe that God is giving the apostolic church what I will simply coin as geographically significant people. There are people that we will reach when we go home from Alexandria that literally can open up entire neighborhoods, culture groups, and families. There are going to be men and women that are reached by people — preachers and preachers' wives here in this conference — that you just reaching that one person is going to open up a door that you did not see coming. All of a sudden that door is going to swing wide open, and you're going to have access to people that you never talked to, you never taught a Bible study. They are geographically significant people. Justus — his very location and friendship to the man of God gave access to more souls.

I wish you could meet Merva Bennett. Merva was 75 when we started our church. She was the only person in Cabot that we knew. In fact, when she heard that we were starting a church, she said, "Brother Gaddy, if you'd like to start in my living room, you can. We can have service in my living room." Now, to all the precious church planters, North American missionaries that are here: you will know, you can't take anything for granted in a living room. If someone sneezes in a service in a living room, everybody feels the effects of that. I'll never forget the first service we had, July 20th, 1999. I was standing at a lectern in the living room, and my wife was standing at the keyboard that we owned, and Merva was sitting on the couch. It was just the three of us. We had hired a girl — in fact, Brian Shock's daughter — we hired her to come and to have Sunday school with my daughter, my one-year-old daughter, in the back bedroom. So when we started church, there's just three of us. I'm standing at the pulpit. My wife is standing at the keyboard. And Merva is sitting on the couch. You know what I did? I'm so programmed. I stood up to the lectern at 7:30 — "We need to start." I stood up and I said, "Let's all stand." I should have said, "Merva, would you please stand?" We had prayer that night. I preached my guts out. Minimally effective.

What I didn't realize when we started in Merva's living room: Merva would go every Monday to a steakhouse for senior special sirloin tips, on sale for $3.99. And she had a friend, Ruby, that was the manager of the steakhouse. And when Ruby brought her tips over to her table that day — the first Monday after the first Tuesday of our church — Ruby set the tips down, and Merva said, "Ruby, I've got to tell you something. We're having church in my living room. You need to come." Ruby looked back at her — and Merva told me this — and said, "You're having church in a living room?" "We're having church. We're going to start an apostolic church. You need to come." So the next Tuesday, Ruby came with Merva to our service. I met Ruby. She was a nice lady. But I didn't realize that Ruby was the manager of the steakhouse. And when Ruby had a good experience at church, she went back to the steakhouse, and she grabbed one of her waitresses, Kathy Wallace, and she said, "Kathy, what are you doing next Tuesday night? I want you to go to church with me." "This is Merva." She introduced her to Merva. "Next week they're having church in her living room. You need to come and be in church with us." And so we made contact with Merva. And Merva made contact with Ruby. And Ruby made contact with Kathy. And Kathy made contact with a sweet Japanese lady by the name of Keiko-san. Could hardly speak English. She would come into that living room for church, and I would be up there preaching, and she would just be nodding her head as though — that's really — she probably didn't understand a word I was saying. But Keiko-san was there. Keiko-san talked to Kathy, and Kathy talked to a dishwasher by the name of Tony Moeller. And Tony Moeller talked to Larry Klaus. And before we knew it, we had a living room full of steakhouse employees.

I'll never forget, the first mission service we ever had was in that living room. And we had a powerful missionary by the name of Bruce Howell, from El Salvador. And he walked into that living room and set up that video. He preached like his britches were on fire. He preached and preached and preached and preached. People are waving their heads. I'm thinking, is it working? I never met Larry Klaus. I never met Tony Moeller. But Merva knew Ruby, and Ruby knew Kathy, and Kathy knew Keiko. Let me tell you: God is going to give our churches geographically significant people. Come on. I feel a visitation of the Holy Ghost. You're going to be surprised by who God leads you to. Come on. Something's fixing to break loose. Something's fixing to happen in your city. Look at someone around you and say: geographically significant. You may be seated.

So Justus gave access to Paul to a whole harvest field that he didn't see coming. Verse number 8 of Acts 18: "And Crispus" — I've always liked that guy's name. Sounds like a breakfast cereal to me. "And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house." This is a book-of-Acts influential conversion. Crispus hears about this church, hears about this man of God, hears the preaching of the Word, and he believes. But it is what is next in that verse that rocks me: "and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." Brother Foster, it dawned on me one day, when the Bible says that many of the Corinthians hearing believed — they did not hear Paul preach. You know what caused them to believe? Change. And that guy named Crispus: man, he used to be dry, plucked up. But man, something got a hold of him. I want to ask all the preachers here — and I'm asking myself — would it be okay if someone came and was converted that didn't hear you preach? "Oh, but Brother Gaddy, they haven't heard the silver-tongued oratory that I give out every single—" No. There might just be somebody in your town that you touch, that's converted by the power of the Holy Ghost. And when they're converted, all of heaven breaks loose. Why? Because people see what Jesus has done in their life. Come on, it's going to happen. Look at somebody and shout at him, say: "It's going to happen." When they saw what happened to Crispus, they heard about it, and they believed.

When we moved into our home that we lived in before this one we're in right now — it was on South Hills Drive — and we moved in next to a really sweet family. Matt and Dana were their names. And about two months after we moved in, Matt and Dana put their house up for sale. And I tried not to let that bother me. But they were real nice, and they told us, "Well, we're moving across town, get a little bigger house for our kids." And my wife went to prayer, and she told me one day at supper, she said, "Tim, we need to pray that God will lead somebody to buy that house that we can make a kingdom connection with." And she looked at me and she said, "God has put us on this street to do more than live here. He's put us on this street to make a difference in the kingdom of God." So I'll never forget, when the sold sign was put in the yard, I knew someone had bought it. And then the Ryder truck pulled up next door, and out jumps the sweetest family: Leonard and Jessica, and their little boy, whose name was Justin. They come out, and they're standing, looking over the yard. And they come up to the house, and we decided we'll go over — and we gave them time to get in and move a few things in — and we brought a cake. My wife made a dessert. We brought it over to their house and welcomed them to the neighborhood. And all with the intent that we're going to reach them, with God's help, we started talking. I'd be mowing grass. I'd stop and talk to Leonard, and we'd chat a little bit. I said, "Leonard, why don't you come over to the house — you and your wife and Justin — come over to the house. We want to have you over for dinner." And they came over. We had a great time. And you know how it is. You know, you get done with the supper, and the ladies kind of drift off to just them, and they're talking ladies' stuff. And the guys drift over, and we're talking cars and oil changes and manly stuff. By the way, it's always amazed me how women can get right up in each other's business, and they're just right up in— Man, if you have a guy do that — if a guy did that to me — "Back off, man. Back off, man. I have space." So Leonard and I are standing in the garage, facing the same way. We're talking about the yard, and the house, and kids. And we had them — we had a great time. Had them over a second time. Had them over the third time. And Leonard and I have come back in the garage, and we're assuming our manly positions in the garage, and we're talking. And while we're facing this — we're not looking at each other, we're facing this way — and Leonard hits me with this. He goes, "Hey Tim, I got a question for you." I said, "Shoot, man. What's up?" "Yeah," he said. "Are you protocostal?" And I knew I couldn't — I couldn't bust — I said, "Uh-huh. I said, it's actually called Pentecostal." Next question out of his mouth: "What's that all about?" "Thank you. I think I'll step on in that one right there." And for about five minutes I gave Leonard my testimony. I said, "Leonard, you have a cute boy. His name's Justin. I'd love to ask you a question. We dedicate children at our church. Has your son ever been dedicated to the Lord?" He said, "No, no. You know, we were thinking about having him baptized when he was an infant, but we haven't had him dedicated." I said, "Well, would you be interested in that?" And he said, "Well, tell me what it's about." I took another five minutes and talked to him about giving him to the Lord and directing his life. And I said, "If that's something that would interest you, you just let me know. I'd love to dedicate your son." And he came back to me a couple days later, and he said, "Hey Tim, I think I'm going to take you up on that." "You mean you have it at the church, and you lay hands on my son and pray for him?" I said, "Yeah, yeah. Come on." So we set it up. And Leonard and Jessica walk in our church for the simple reason to get their son dedicated to the Lord. And it's beautiful when you're working with lost people, because they don't know protocol. They don't know how to do stuff right. So they come up. They don't even know which way to stand. You know, when they—

"—come up for the dedication, I'm kind of teaching them: 'You'll stand here and look at me.' And we're praying, and telling them everything I'm going to do ahead of time. And we prayed over them, and tears are streaming down Jessica's face. It's a really moving thing. And she does the sign of the cross when it's over. And it was just great. It's awesome. They left. And about two weeks later, the door opens during worship, and here comes Leonard and Jessica back in. And I'm thinking, do they have more kids? But this time they weren't coming to get their kid dedicated. They just enjoyed what they felt at that church when they got their son dedicated.

Now let me just put a pause right here and tell you: my wife had started talking to the neighbors. They lived right next to us. My wife started talking to the neighbors across the street, John and Carrie. And she started picking up their daughter Lexi for VBS and bringing her to our church. And so Lexi's coming, a part of our VBS. Well, Leonard, next door, and John, across the street, meet one day in their yards. And they're talking. And Leonard's talking about this church he's been going to. And here's what Leonard — Leonard told me this. What Leonard told John: "Hey John, have you had your kids dedicated to the Lord?" John said, "No, no. I've never had that done." "Leonard: 'Tim lives right here. He would love to dedicate your kids to Jesus.'" John comes and knocks on my door, and says, "Tim, I understand you dedicate children to the Lord." I said, "Yeah, it's one of the things that I do." He said, "Would you mind if you dedicated Lexi to the Lord?" I said, "Let's set it up." They brought Lexi, and Lexi came, and we dedicated Lexi to the Lord. They had a daughter named Gracie, and Gracie was dedicated to the Lord. They had a son named Gavin, and when he was born we dedicated Gavin to the Lord. We dedicated Casey to the Lord. We dedicated Lily — and they were a big family — Lily and Ainsley to the Lord. We saw everyone in their family baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Ghost. Come on. Because of the Times, there's no telling what God's going to do when we get in the harvest. You might be living on a gold mine on your street right now. We had 45 people at one time either had visited our church or were a part of our church, on our street alone. I tell you that to tell you: there are influential conversions. When Leonard starts talking about what God has done for him, John's going to get excited, Carrie's going to get excited. Something's going to happen when you reach that one person. Look at someone and say: What on earth am I doing?

I finish with this third type of individual, and he is found in Acts chapter 18 and verse number 24: "And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly."

God is giving to the apostolic church a revival of people that are open for more. There are men and women in the towns represented in this congregation right now that love God with all of their heart. They pray — sometimes more disciplined than I pray. They love the Lord. They read His Word. But when they go to bed at night, there's a little gnawing inside of their spirit that says, "Lord, I thank You for all of Your blessings — but is there something more? God, I thank You for every good thing You've brought to my life, but maybe, just maybe—" And they might not even verbalize it, but it's with them all the time. When Aquila and Priscilla came to Apollos, he was a man mighty in the scriptures. But they did not look at Apollos and say, "You did not repent at my altar, hence your experience is worth nothing." But in love they came up to Apollos, probably put their arms around him, and said, "Can we talk a little further? Can we sit in Starbucks and visit just a little bit about what you're teaching? You are very eloquent. You do a wonderful job. We just want to come alongside you." And with that type of loving approach, God opened up a man that gave great strength to the early church. A man who was mighty in the scriptures. A man who was instructed in the way of the Lord. And yet, way down deep in his spirit, he was hungry. He was there for something more.

It was August the 28th, 2010, that Jason and Chasity Harper, for the first time, walked through the doors of our church. I want to show you a picture of their wedding. That's them on their wedding day. They have four beautiful children. And when they walked through the doors, we evermore had church that day. It was apostolic church with a capital A. Pastors, you know how it is when it starts breaking loose, and there's that moment you're thinking, "I wonder if I should preach. Should I let it go? God, never let me get to that place." That day, I mean, it was wall-to-wall praise. People praying, speaking in tongues, laying hands on each other. Bobby pins are flying everywhere. People getting all excited, and just coming to the altar spontaneously. It's one of those services that a pastor dreams about. And I will not forget looking over the congregation that day, and Jason and Chasity were in the sanctuary, and they were just a little stunned. You could see the bubble over their head. It would say, "What have we got ourselves into here?" They told me that when they left the service that day, for five minutes in the van, nobody said anything.

Now, let me tell you what precipitated their visit. The name of our church is New Life Church. That's been the name of our church since we started the church. There is a very large church in Little Rock. It's not a Spirit-filled church. It's an independent church, and it is called New Life Church. So that's the big New Life Church in Little Rock, and we're the New Life Church in Cabot. We happen to have the same name. About five years ago, the big New Life Church decided — they wanted — their goal, their vision, is to plant campuses all over the state of Arkansas. And so they wanted to plant a campus in Cabot. And they started looking and finding out that we have that name, New Life Church. And they're big on branding and marketing, and they wanted all their churches to have the same name. And so they had their senior-most pastor call me. He was a very nice man. And he just struck up a conversation. He says, "Pastor Tim, I understand you pastor New Life Church." "Yes, sir." "You know, it's our vision here at New Life Church to plant campuses all over Arkansas. We would like to plant a church in Cabot. And we're wondering, what would you think about if we were called New Life Church?" And I was very honest. And I'm not a guy that, you know, gets up in someone's grill on stuff. And I just said, "Well, I tell you, that's actually going to be a little difficult, because that's our name, and that's y'all's name. And so if you come and take our name, then we're going to have two churches with the exact same name." And they even offered. They said, "What if we gave you $10,000? Would you change the name of your church?" I said, "No. Because I can take you to the altar where God gave me the name of our church." And they backed off quick. They said, "No, no. Okay." They said, "Well, I tell you what we'll do. We'll call our church NLC. We won't call it New Life Church. We'll just use the acronym, NLC." And I wanted to — I didn't, but I wanted to say, "What does that stand for?" But I didn't. I didn't want to be dishonoring. And so today there's New Life Church (us), and then there's NLC. And they've done well. They've been there for about five years.

Well, the strangest thing happened. Because when they announced at the big Little Rock New Life Church that they're starting a campus in Cabot — "We're having a New Life Church grand opening in Cabot" — probably all the Cabot folks that went to the big New Life Church were like, "Finally. We don't have to drive all the way down to Little Rock anymore, honey. Let's find out where that's located. 107 Commercial Street. They have service at nine and eleven. Let's go." And in a period of six months, we had — listen — hundreds of people walk through our doors, thinking they were going to the New Life Church affiliated with the big one in Little Rock. Now, full disclosure: if they would walk in our church and say, "Is this the New Life Church affiliated with the big one in Little Rock?" we would say — our greeters were trained — "No, no. They're over by McDonald's, here in Cabot." But if they walked in and said, "Is this New Life Church?" "Yes. And it's been that for 10 years." I can't tell you the number of people that walked in with their coffee and sat down in the service, and our praise team started, and our worship started, and the blankest look would come over their face: "This ain't like the Little Rock church, honey." I can't tell you the number of people that gracefully just stepped up out of their chair after the first song and walked out. There were people — I'll never forget one of our ushers coming up to me and telling me, there's a guy on the phone in our lobby, and he's calling his buddy who is already at New Life Church: "Hey, where you at?" "I'm over by the bathroom. I don't see you."

Jason and Chasity walked in our church initially thinking we were that other New Life Church. That was Sunday. Wednesday, they came back the next Sunday. They came back the next Wednesday. They came back. Their kids started getting involved in our kids' ministry and going to classes. We took them out for pizza. I'll never forget taking them out for pizza, and about six weeks after they had been there, Jason looked at me, and he said, "Pastor," he said, "Are you all affiliated with the big New Life Church in Little Rock?" I said, "No, sir. We just happen to have the same name. A lot of people get that confused." Here's what he said. He said, "That's okay. We like this one." We had the privilege of going into their home, teaching them a home Bible study. I remember when the light bulb started going off in their head about Jesus-name baptism, the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Chasity went to ladies' conference with our ladies' group. And on the last day of ladies' conference, she's about two-thirds of the way back, her hands are lifted. God's baptizing her with the Holy Ghost, speaking with other tongues. The very next morning, Jason comes to the altar, throws his hands up in the air, and God baptizes him with the Holy Ghost, speaking with other tongues. Every one of their kids have been baptized in Jesus' name. Every one of their family has been filled with the Holy Ghost. I thank God for believers who are open for more.

I want you to see a picture of two years ago of the Harper family. That's the Harper family in 2013. This is the Harper family today. Jason has traveled to the Dominican Republic with me to preach. He and his wife are going with Stacy and I in about two months to go back to the Dominican Republic. They're going before the Arkansas District Board in July for their local license with the United Pentecostal Church. I want someone here in this conference to understand: God wants to give you believers who are ready for something more. Something greater. Something they've never experienced. If God can do that in Cabot, He can do it for you. What on earth am I doing?

Here's what I would like you to do. I want every preacher — I'm humbly asking every preacher — to join up with another preacher right now. Don't start praying yet, but I want every preacher to get with another preacher. I want every preacher's wife to get in front of another preacher's wife. The Holy Ghost is getting ready to bring a personal evangelism revival on every preacher in this house. Come on, preachers. Let's not delegate soul winning. Let's not delegate soul winning. I want you to get in front of that preacher. I want you to get face to face with that preacher. Come on. Preachers' wives, I want you to get face to face with somebody. Come on, that's it. Come on out here. The sound of revival. I hear the sound of soul winning. I hear the sound of a breakout of evangelism. Hey, come on. That's it. Come on. Say, "We're not going to leave the same. We're not going to leave the same." Come on. I hear the sound of revival in California. I hear the sound of revival in Maryland. I hear the sound of revival in Florida. Personal evangelism revival. Come on. Once you've prayed for one person, go ahead and step out and pray for somebody else. Let there be a breakout of personal evangelism. Come on. Come on. Come on. That's it. There's going to be new souls: influential conversions, geographically significant people, believers open for more. Come on. Preachers' wives, you can teach that Bible study. You can reach that person. Come on, that's it. Go ahead and pray for one more person right now.