Author Profile
Geoff Waugh
Rev Dr Geoff Waugh, a retired (re-fired) Baptist minister and missionary, taught in Bible Schools in PNG and Theological and Bible Colleges in Australia. He regularly leads short term missions to teach pastors and leaders and has authored 15 books focused on renewal and revival.
He edited the Renewal Journal, now available with mission and book information on his website.
Geoff Waugh
57 MCaskill Road, Pullenvale, Q 4069
Ph. 0421 987 289
Email: gwaugh@iinet.net.au | Web:
www.renewaljournal.com | Books: here
Article Archive here
Revivals into 2000 (part 16) – Geoff Waugh
July, 1999 –
Tacoma, Washington (Bill Wolfson)
Aggressive fasting is fuelling hunger for God at a Tacoma, Washington, church that has baptized more than 700 new converts during 90 weeks of revival. During the first year of the move of God at Bethel Church, members fasted a total of 165 days. The church sets 40 days at the start of each year and four days at the beginning of each month for fasting.
“This radical fasting is not normative, and we do not recommend it to others,” said pastor Bill Wolfson, who completed a 70-day liquids-only fast. “But it is what God has for us. Fasting causes unbelief to come out of our lives.”
Prostitutes and gang members are among those who have come to Christ at the four-nights-a-week services, which can often last for hours. One man was even reportedly raised from the dead through prayer after CPR failed to revive him. “I can only conclude that he was miraculously revived,” said retired paramedic Cornelius Winesberry Jr., who attended the man.
The revival began at the church - recently renamed Church for All Nations, to mark its renewed commitment to interracial outreach - after Wolfson travelled to an Illinois church to witness the Smithton-like revival happening there.
Source: News Update from Charisma magazine, Friday, October 15, 1999.
July, 1999 –
Caldwell, Texas (Deon Hockey)
Caldwell, approximately an hour north of Houston, has experienced revival also.
Revival has hit a small Assemblies of God church in Caldwell. The church has been having nightly services, drawing people from all across the area. All sorts of physical healings are reported, including eyes and backs healed. Deon Hockey was the visiting speaker and because of what is happening there, has cancelled his future engagements and will stay for the time being.
The presence of God is so strong that people are being frozen-like against the walls of the church for an hour or more. Praise and worship has continued for two hours at a time. Someone will run to the altar and get on their face before God, and twenty others will follow. The power of God will cause twenty or so people to fall out on the floor all at once.
People from all around the area are coming to the church. When asked how they found out about it, they’ll say they heard of someone being healed which drew them. We are entering into a period of time in the church of signs and wonders. These will be signs that God is still alive. God still heals. God still speaks. God still loves his children. And God still cares.
Church services continued nightly at First Assembly of God.
Source: Awakening List via grn@crown-house.com, 16 July, 1999 (Guido Kuwas)
Tuesday, 27 July, 1999
Mornington Island, Queensland
The following account, adapted from reports Brian Pickering and Jesse Padayache, gives details of a powerful move of God that has occurred among Aboriginal communities on Mornington Island, Arakun and Weipa in the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Queensland, as well as on Psalm Island north east of Townsville.
Mornington Island was a pretty awful place, noted for its drunkenness and violence. Iranale Tadulala, a Fijian Pastor was posted there five years ago. About two years ago, an angel appeared to him and told him that there was to be a revival on Mornington Island and he was to facilitate it. However it would not be easy.
He began a 40 day fast from 1st June until 11th July, 1999. A colleague visited Mornington Island when Iranale was 28 days into his fast and was deeply challenged just being with the man. He was so committed, close to tears all the time.
During the fast one of the scriptures impressed on him was the similarity between the city of Pergamum (Rev 2:12-17) and Mornington Island. So much awful stuff kept on happening there that it had to be something like Satan’s throne. And, just like Pergamum, a good Christian man had been martyred there in the early days of the Mission. At the end of his 40 day fast he believed he had to go out to the site of the killing and fast there a further seven days. This was a rather harrowing experience and he was conscious of doing battle with cosmic forces throughout.
At the conclusion of the fast (only days after the national prayer gathering at Uluru in July), they planned meetings at Mornington Island which began on 27th July. At the end of the first meeting 100 stayed behind for prayer and counselling. By the end of the crusade there had been 300 conversions (25% of the population) and they were still going on with 500 reported by September.
Five other pastors helped with this marvellous happening. Two are Fijians from Palm Island and Weipa. The pastor from Aurukun and a white pastor from Townsville are also involved as is an Indian South African from Brisbane. They are working on discipleship, want Bibles, and are already getting phone calls from surrounding areas asking them to go there, but are saying: “When God says it is right!”
One of the team leaders was Pastor Jesse Padayache, the South African Indian. He has ministered in Australia for many years. His wife Cookie was healed miraculously through prayer from a tumour on the brain. They have x-rays showing total healing.
In February and May, Jesse had spoken at revival meetings in Palm Island north east of Townsville, among the tribes there, where there has been much drunkeness. Many were converted, delivered and set free from addiction to alcohol, tobacco and fornication. A man, angry with Jesse because his de-facto wife was converted in February and wanted to get married, was later converted. He asked Jesse to marry them during the meetings in May. Now money formerly spent on addictions is spend on food, clothes and shelter and many people are prospering for the first time.
News of the revival meetings on Palm Island reached Mornington Island. In Mornington Island, alcohol abuse has been extreme. Drunkenness was everywhere. The place was littered with piles of beer cans. About 10 people attended the services.
On the first night, Tuesday, 27 July, 1999, the team was casting out demons till midnight.
People were healed - the deaf, cripples, back pain, diabetes, blood pressure, heart diseases. Many committed their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and were freed from generational curses. A report from the pastors says: “Spirits of suicide, alcoholism were driven out and old curses of sorcery and witchcraft were broken.”
On the second night, Wednesday, an angry lady with a beer can came in abusing Jesse and the team for casting out spirits. She yelled, “Me and my beer, we live together. Don’t listen to this man.” But the people wanted to be delivered because of the changes they saw in their friends. Many were healed and delivered. Two healed people threw away their crutches. A lady with a stroke was healed and freed from her wheelchair. The drunk lady saw the healings and eventually wanted prayer. She gave her life to Jesus and became instantly sober. She said, “Pastor, I don’t want this stupid habit” and gave her six pack of beer to the pastor.
Their report tells of a young boy, born disabled - dumb, deaf and unable to walk - was healed, running around. His first word was “Mom”. A woman with a stroke who could not speak and could hardly walk is walking around testifying about what God had done for her. A woman came to the meeting with a walking frame, but left the frame and walked home without it when the Lord healed her.
They have a Women’s Refuge which is usually chock-a-block on Thursday and Friday nights. It had one customer! Around midnight one night, a man called his family together and spoke of what God had been doing in bringing the whole family to the Lord, saying, “Everyone is welcome in this home, but from now on there never to be any alcohol in this house.”
A white policeman came to a meeting, drawn to what Aborigines were experiencing but feeling too ashamed to go forward. Next day, a pastor found him sitting in a corner, spoke to him about his shame, took him home and led him to the Lord. The pub shut an hour early, with no customers. Next day there was no one at the women’s shelter - they didn’t need that sort of help any more!
Many leaders in the community were saved, and the sale of beer dropped dramatically. Around 500 in that community of 1200 became Christians. Now former enemies are reconciled. Revival has brought reconciliation between blacks and whites also. Community leaders encouraged people to kick the demon drink out and give themselves to God.
A young man, lying in bed at home heard the loud speakers, and so came to the meetings to give his life to God. On Sunday the church was packed with people standing outside to listen. Many were healed in the morning, and many more on Sunday night.
Large numbers, formerly in de-facto relationships, have now married. The pastor has been busy performing marriages. Within weeks, beer consumption dropped by over 9,000 cans a week.
On the Monday they started classes for believers. More were converted then also. A drunk man came from the pub to the believers class, seeking God. The believers also follow up each other, because they all know who is involved.
When Jesse passed through Weipa on his way to Arakun in the gulf of north west Queensland in August, he met an aboriginal lady from a community of 400 people in Mapoon, north of Weipa. Her 34 year old son, looking wild, saliva dripping, and shaking, had been in a psychotic state receiving treatment for six years. He’d been separated from his de-facto wife and children for that time. The pastor saw them at the shopping centre so invited them to his place for healing prayer. The son was frightened of the pastors, staring with wild eyes. They bound spirits and cast them out. When he went back to the hospital he was pronounced totally healed. He now lives with his family and got married.
Revivals into 2000 (part 15) – Geoff Waugh
August, 1998 –
Kimberleys (Max Wiltshire)
Robert McQuillan reported in The Evangel:
An enthusiastic Max Wiltshire, Australian Aboriginal Outreach (AAO) coordinator, shared briefly at the Assemblies of God Western Australia state conference some of the exciting things God is doing in the Kimberley region in the north of Western Australia in 1998.
A number of Aboriginal leaders had accompanied him to the conference, including Kenny Boomer who received his ministry credential. Pastor Wiltshire also acknowledged the role Western Australia Women’s Ministries had played in supplying a bus for the AAO work .
“Fire is falling in the Kimberleys,” he reported. “Thousands are being powerfully touched by God in salvation, healing and release. And in many other ways too, some of which are unbelievable. Hundreds of people are falling out - not with each other, but ‘falling out’ under the anointing.”
Affectionately known by Aboriginals as ‘the man in the big hat,’ the AAO coordinator went on to add that so much has happened since their outstanding Christmas meetings. He reported:
The Kimberleys are ablaze. The fire of God in the hearts of his people burns brighter than ever, new churches have been started, others have doubled in size - one leaping from 10 percent of the community to 90 percent in just a few weeks. Further afield in the Pilbara area the move of God has been so intense that the local hotel went into receivership.
This move has seen the number of Christians doubled in the area over the last twelve months, which means our conventions are climbing toward a thousand people in the evening meetings. Are the manifestations still occurring as at first in this move of God? Yes, in fact the increase that we are seeing is in direct relationship to the outstanding manifestations of the Spirit.
But - what manifestations are we talking about? The usual? Yes, laughing, shaking, rolling, crying, running and so on continue. However, if these are the normal, what are the outstanding ones? In truth, some would make you cry in awe and wonder. Such as seeing people falling under the power of the Spirit as they give their offering to the Lord. As they have come to the front and put their offering in the containers, they ‘fall out’ there and then as the blessing of giving overcomes them.
After a recent crusade, one Aboriginal lady handed a ministry offering to the speaker on behalf of the church, and fell at his feet, again under the power and blessing of giving.
We have also seen folks falling out in the opening prayer as the very name of Jesus is mentioned. They just fall from the seats to the floor, not knowing they are meant to wait until the altar call before they let the Lord touch them. Back up singers are unable to stand, also people bringing items are unable to finish them because the anointing is so great.
Actually, it’s a case of the mores! We need more buses to pick up more people to receive more of the blessing! Transporting Aboriginals to services is a cultural thing. It shows you care and that the meetings are very important. Provide transport and they’ll be there with open hearts.
Sunday, 25 October, 1998
Vancouver, Canada (Charles Ndifon)
David Culley reports from Glad Tidings Assembly in Vancouver, Canada.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh ...” We are seeing it! For the past months Glad Tidings in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada has been experiencing the same renewal that is happening all over the world. Yesterday, we crossed over into full blown revival. The morning service started much like any other. The worship was anointed as usual, and we had a visiting revival minister as we often had before. The thing that was different was the sea of turbans and saris in the building. Vancouver is a multi-national city with a large Sikh population, and over 200 had come to our morning meeting.
Our guest minister, Charles Ndifon from Nigeria and New York, had been in Victoria, British Columbia, for some meetings a few weeks ago, and a young Sikh woman, who had been invited by her Christian husband was healed of blindness and deafness. She went back and brought her favourite uncle, Charnjit, who was dying of cancer, and he left the meeting healed and saved.
Since then Charnjit has been witnessing to all his relatives, and when Charles Ndifon came to our church in Vancouver, this man invited his whole extended family. Yesterday, after watching many people be healed of athsma (as an example of how simple it is for God to heal anything), and a 90 year old woman receive a new ear-drum, about 200 Sikhs came forward to give their hearts to God. And it’s real. They had already heard the Gospel from Charnjit, and to make sure, the altar call was translated into Punjabi. After the service, the people were so excited to have found Jesus, and to be so accepted by these white people. At the evening service another 104 Punjab Sikh people responded to the altar call.
We saw many miracles. A 14 year old boy born blind saw his mother for the first time, deaf ears were opened, cancers were healed. But the greatest miracle of all was that God now seems to be bringing in the Sikh population that we have been so unable to reach for all this time.
Bob Brasset from Victoria, Canada, writes about the move of the Holy Spirit in British Columbia:
The outpourings continue. In fact, it seems to be getting stronger. We now meet four nights a week. The response of the pastors in the area is simply an overwhelming gratitude for the goodness of God for deigning to visit us in such an awesome way. There is an amazing, astounding hunger in North America right now. People know that we are on the edge of not only revival but a genuine Awakening: perhaps the greatest since the day of Pentecost. This Awakening, I feel, will be characterized by the very kabod glorious presence of God coming and abiding in a room, a church and even a city, or a whole region (as in Charles Finney’s revivals).
The worship in our services now continues and flows for 1½ to 2 hours, unabated with spontaneous songs of the Lord from worship team and congregation. Bodies lie on the floor, prostrate in worship. People report seeing angels. Visions, mighty, inspiring ones, are plenteous. Healings happen during the preaching of the word or worship without anyone praying or laying on hands. We are not advertising this. People are just coming. Salvations are happening in each service - even when we don’t give specific calls. We now have reported healings of fibromylagia, diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, ears opening, many necks and backs healed and severe allergies gone.
Sunday, 14 March, 1999
Hobart, Tasmania (Ian Turton)
Pastor Ian Turton of River Christian Church in Kingston, Hobart, reported in April, 1999 on their series of miracle meetings:
We have been hearing about what God has been doing overseas filling people’s teeth with gold, silver and platinum, and even braces turning to gold. At River Christian Church in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia we have been believing the Lord for miracles, signs & wonders like we have never seen before for a while now. He led us into a time of intense warfare for a few months and then began to put on our hearts the real desire to see the miracles happen and that souls would be added because of what He is doing like in Acts 4 where the disciples asked the Lord to give them boldness to preach the gospel by stretching forth His healing power and that signs & wonders be done in the name of Jesus.
On Sunday night, 14th March, 1999, we asked all present to lay hands on their mouths and we prayed that the Lord would fill the teeth with gold. By Monday night we were amazed as we actually saw fillings change into gold before our eyes. Personally gold fillings appeared in my mouth, my wife also and others are getting blown away by their fillings changing before their eyes. God is awesome. …
We had a couple of crew from the USS Carl Vincent in port for a few days visit come to some of the meetings. One of them received gold fillings, praise the Lord. What a thing to carry back on board. We prayed that revival would break out onboard that warship. …
Jeannette (my wife) was ministering in Richmond at a ladies night (when) ... a whole bunch of them including the pastor’s wife saw their teeth turn to gold. Some of the ladies when they returned home prayed for their husbands who in turn received gold fillings. The pastor apparently didn’t believe what had happened but when the pastor’s wife prayed for him he received gold. One lady had just had her teeth refilled at the dentist last week with white porcelain. They were gold also. She was a little put out by it at first!
This is our first - gold dust appeared on people’s faces. One unsaved guy had it and got saved. He shared that his wife has been coming along and has been gloriously healed and her life completely changed, as has his mother in law. His other unsaved family members are coming along and in his own words ‘they are next’.
Thanks especially for your prayer; it is so very much needed. Alas there are the knockers and sceptics but let me assure you we have seen more lives changed, more healings and more salvations in the last four weeks then in many previous years.
The church continues to experience God’s powerful presence, and from mid-1999 Ian Turton began leading and speaking at meetings around Australia and beyond where similar healings and manifestations have continued.
Revivals into 2000 (part 14) – Geoff Waugh
Pentecost Sunday, 31 May, 1998
St Helens, Tasmania (Stuart Lumsden)
Pastor Stuart Lumsden is the pastor of St. Helens Christian Fellowship in the town of St. Helens, 3,000 population, on the east coast of Tasmania. He wrote this article two months after revival began in their church at the end of May, 1998.
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 callipers 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 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!
Revivals into 2000 (part 13) – Geoff Waugh
Sunday 12 October, 1997
Greenville, Alabama (Ken Owen)
Ken Owen, Senior Pastor of First Assembly of God Greenville, South Carolina, reports:
In April 1995 a first wave of revival began to crest over the congregation at First Assembly of God, Greenville, South Carolina. Nightly meetings were held for a month with Ed Nelson. Since then a number of waves have rolled in, building into what is now a tsunami of revival.
In August, 1997, the tide began to significantly deepen. I called Ed - a director of a mission work to unreached peoples - to return immediately. On October 11, 1997, Ed returned to us from Asia. The Sunday morning service flowed like a mighty river -- hundreds came forward to repent of sins. The meeting carried on through the day till 4:00 pm. With an hour break, it began again at 5:00 pm with a large prayer meeting and evening service. Since then there has been no let up, only an increase.
More than two thousand people have repented of sins, converts being baptized weekly. Many miracles and healings are accompanying the revival.
People from a variety of church backgrounds and denominations are driving to the meetings from several cities and states as momentum continues to strengthen. There has been almost no promotion of the revival, but word-of-mouth has brought thousands of people to the meetings.
November, 1997 –
Pilbara, Western Australia (Craig Siggins)
The closure of a pub through lack of customers is big news in Australia. This is what drew the media to a small town called Nullagine in the far north of Western Australia. But the media didn’t know quite how to report the religious revival that is keeping people out of the pubs as well as the jails and hospitals. Aboriginal church worker Craig Siggins wrote this account of the spiritual awakening that is changing Aboriginal communities in Western Australia.
“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.
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. Police, hospitals and others have noticed a decrease in alcohol related incidents. The media has begun to take notice.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Adapted from Alive magazine, June 1998 and Vision magazine, July 1998.
Revivals into 2000 (part 12) – Geoff Waugh
June, 1997 –
Kawana Waters, Queensland (Peter Barr)
Australian Evangelist Jeff Beacham describes a weekend at Kawana Waters, Queensland, which has been experiencing revival blessing since June 1997:
For the last few days I have been ministering at Living Waters Christian Centre, a church that is moving greatly in revival. Revival began here in June 1997 with a visit from Darrell Stott and a team from Seattle, USA. Darrell returned here in September and stayed until Easter 1998. Since October 1997 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. On Friday 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.
Saturday night 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 on Sunday, some from as far away as Toowoomba, a large rural city two and a half hours drive from here. 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.
Thursday, 10 July, 1997
Caloundra, Queensland (Ken Kilah)
Pastor Ken Kilah, senior pastor at Caloundra Baptist Church on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland reports on a move of God in the church and at Caloundra Christian College:
Since February 1995 the Caloundra Baptist Church has experienced several waves of the Spirit as he has sovereignly moved on the congregation. At times people would fall in their seats as the Spirit moved in power. Since that time the church has consistently made altar calls at the end of services with various manifestations occurring.
These manifestations increased during and after a ‘Catch the Fire’ conference in October 1996. Guy Chevreaux was the guest speaker. Many people were touched by the power of God and testified to healings, refreshing, release from fears and a whole lot more.
On Thursday 10 July, 1997, the Holy Spirit unexpectedly came upon students in a Year 7 class at the Caloundra Christian College. The College is a ministry of the Caloundra Baptist Church.
Students began shaking, and falling to the floor. The teacher, well aware of what was occurring took several of the students from class to the prayer room in the church where they were prayed for and cared for by church staff.
This caused a strong reaction from certain parents who protested by collecting a petition asking the school to stop what was happening or they would remove their students from the school. The church and school responded by saying we believed that this was God at work.
A letter sent to the entire parent body explaining this position. This letter reaches the local press which carried front page articles in the weekend papers. During the next week the TV channels ran news and current affairs reports on the school and the views of opponents. Some of the major newspapers also ran magazine and news reports, and radio stations called for interviews.
Ultimately some parents did respond by withdrawing 30 children from the 371 enrolled. However, new enrolments occurred and schools across the country sent encouraging reports.
The most encouraging result has been to see the lives of children changed. The children were not afraid of what God is doing and continues to do in their lives. They were the ones who praised God for his grace towards them, and so do all at the Caloundra Baptist Church and school
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