Note
from Jeff: This month, I am
including C. Peter Wagner's personal
report of the Apostolic Alignment
Service that I was a part of on June
23rd in Lakeland, Florida. This was
originally sent to The Lakeland
Outpouring Apostolic Team assembled by
Dr. Peter Wagner, members of which are
listed below - Jeff Beacham.
To: Lakeland
Outpouring Apostolic Team: Chuck Pierce,
Dutch Sheets, Lee Grady, Steve Strang,
Ché Ahn, Jeff Beacham, David Cannistraci,
Joseph Askins, Bill Johnson, John Arnott
Subject: Personal Report of Lakeland
Outpouring - C. Peter Wagner, June 25,
2008
As all of you know, what I believe to be
God-orchestrated circumstances over the
past three weeks or so have brought me
mainstream into The Lakeland Outpouring
and the controversies surrounding it.
I
am writing this from Lakeland. The night
before last, Doris and I attended the
meeting in the tent along with 10,000
others, the largest crowd yet since
meeting in the tent. It was the 82nd day
of the Outpouring. Todd Bentley
used his speaking time in giving the
most detailed testimony so far of the
“dark night of the soul” that he
experienced for 18 months of 2005-2007.
It was a very remarkable and transparent
confession of his pride during the ten
years previously and details of the
wilderness that God took him through to
break the pride. He was very clear about
his lack of discipline, his emotions out
of control, his rejection of God, his
dislike of reading scripture, public
meltdown on the platform, memories of
childhood rejection, loneliness, sexual
abuse, his marriage on the brink of
divorce, etc. He was so burnt out, he
cried four hours per day for 21 days
straight.
When it was over, God restored
everything related to his staff, his
marriage, his ministry, and his
newly-refined personal character. This
was a very remarkable and touching
presentation. There was no hint of
victimization or wanting a pity party.
It was a confession of his own sin and
the consequences he paid for
disobedience. Doris and I were very
touched by this, and we were thankful to
God for a window on Todd’s character
that we didn’t expect to be so wide open
to us.
Let me remind you that Doris and I have
been very close to other similar
outpourings, especially the John
Wimber signs & wonders phenomenon of
the late 70s and 80s as well as the
Argentine Revival of the 80s and
90s. We believe we have paid our dues in
terms of the ability to discern truth
from error and also in receiving severe
and often painful criticism for some of
the judgments we made in supporting
those two movements. As we observed and
participated in the meeting in the tent,
we became very nostalgic about Wimber
and Argentina, even noting some physical
resemblance between Todd and Wimber. His
accuracy in words of knowledge reminded
us of both John Wimber in the past and
Robert Henderson in the present.
The worship time was similar to the
worship we experience in Freedom Church
in Colorado Springs, except on a larger
and more exuberant scale. We saw or felt
nothing that would cross the lines we
have previously experienced in
high-profile revival. We have learned
that God-driven revival is often messy,
tending to pull some out of their
religious comfort zones, but at the same
time opening gates for new seasons of
the movement of God.
All this was in preparation for last
night, June 23rd, when we held a
ceremony of apostolic alignment for Todd
Bentley... who would be aligned with
Ché Ahn, Bill Johnson and John
Arnott, representing Revival
Alliance, who would then commission
him as the evangelist to lead The
Lakeland Outpouring. A few of us met
with Todd personally before the service,
and we found him to be a wonderful
individual. Doris and I had never met
him before. I explained to him what the
ceremony would be like, and he agreed. I
thought that it was interesting when he
wanted to change one thing I had written
in this document, because I could then
run a quiet test of his humility and his
respect for authority. Keep in mind that
this was Todd’s ministry and Todd’s
meeting. However, he had delegated the
leadership of the ceremony to me. I
suggested that his change was not wise,
and he immediately accepted my decision.
We were on the same page! In fact, we
like each other!
The scenario was that I took the podium
and called around me Todd, Ché, Bill and
John. I then called to the platform a
number of apostles whom I had chosen to
stand behind us: Stephen Strader
of Lakeland, FL, Karl Strader of
Lakeland, FL, Jeff Beacham of
Sydney, Australia, Rick Joyner of
Ft. Mill, SC, Doris Wagner of
Colorado Springs, CO, Sharon Stone
of Burton, England, Paco Garcia
of Chiclana, Spain, Clarice Fluitt
of Monroe, LA, Richard Maiden
of Scottsdale, AZ, Michael Maiden
of Phoenix, AZ, Joshua Fowler of
Orlando, FL, Barry Boucher of
Ottawa, Canada, and Wesley Campbell
of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
Unfortunately, Bishop Bill Hamon
had to cancel because of a travel
problem. I then read the paper I am
attaching and, despite several requests,
I even desisted from telling a joke!
When I finished, I handed the microphone
to Ché and he was in charge.
Ché, Bill and John laid on hands and
anointed Todd with a special new “Be
Revived” oil that Chuck Pierce
(who was in Africa) sent for the event.
Todd went down under the power of the
Spirit and the three prophesied over
him, commissioning him as the evangelist
to lead The Lakeland Outpouring. Then,
most of the backup apostles prayed and
prophesied as well. The power of the
Holy Spirit
was
so heavy on that event that you could
almost have cut it with a knife!
It was quite evident to those present
that this was a groundbreaking event. A
serious public problem had been growing
in the body of Christ revolving around
concerns about Lakeland from respected
leaders. Even “schism” had been
mentioned frequently. Because of the
extensive media coverage through GOD
TV, it was much more than a private
or a trivial matter. Something was
called for to set things in order, and
this is the stated role of apostles. We
are now in a place in what I see as the
Second Apostolic Age that apostles can
agree publicly to bring alignment. The
seventeen apostles involved in this
event represented three distinct
apostolic streams: ICA (10 were
ICA members), Revival Alliance,
and MorningStar. Even though we
are not networked formally, we believe
in and support each other, and we stand
together when a crisis such as this one
comes along. I may be wrong, but I
cannot recall an event of this nature in
the recent history of the Church.
There was a notable prophetic dimension
accompanying the event. Around a month
ago, Bob Jones prophesied that on
June 22nd, the outpouring would increase
so much that it would appear that the
revival would really begin at that time.
Of course no one knew that June 23rd,
the day after June 22nd, would be the
date of Todd’s apostolic alignment which
could well be the event to release
increased spiritual power.
Parenthetically, both June 22nd and June
23rd broke previous attendance records
in the 10,000-seat tent.
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