Posted: 02/03/2007 at 8:06pm | IP Logged

New School of Ministry Aims for Power Evangelism

by Steve Eastman, OpenHeaven.com TOP News

WILSON, NC -If one can chase a thousand and two can put ten thousand to flight (Deuteronomy 32:30), what happens when fifty Christians show up for power evangelism training in a city of over 44,000?  That’s the number that arrived to hear the vision for Frontlines School of the Spirit. 

Organizer Joel Killion believes every Christian should work out the ministry God has for him and take orders from Christ Himself.  He also believes God wants more than servants; He wants friends. Killion, who attended MorningStar School of Ministry in Charlotte, North Carolina, is not a “professional” clergyman.  He’s a banker at BB & T.  He sees Frontlines as a resource for the churches of the city and beyond. We spoke with him after the first Friday night session.

A couple of months ago, you told me about your idea for a school of ministry.  You weren’t quite sure how it would work out.  You picked Super Bowl weekend for the kick-off event.  Now with the first session behind us, how do you feel it turned out?

I feel it turned out perfect.  I’m very hopeful.  I’m very expectant.  I don’t know what it’s going to look like.  It’s like we didn’t really know what our babies were going to look like.  We kind of had an idea from the ultrasound.  We knew they’d look like my wife and me.  We know this school is going to look like Him.  I think it’s turned out a lot better than we could have ever planned.  But we didn’t plan it.  So, it’s working out.

What inspired you to start the school?

Bobby Hussey gave me a word at the (MorningStar) writer’s conference. It shocked me out of passivity.  I was simply content to wait on the Lord and to have “waiting meetings” and to pray and to try to be a good husband and father and  worker at BB & T and to just love Him.  When I started to complain about the state of my local city, Bobby said, “So, what are you going to do about it?”  That started me. 

You used the term “power evangelism."  What more does that involve than the prophetic?

The term “power evangelism” was coined by John Wimber.  It was basically what Jesus did.  He didn’t use tracts.  He didn’t use The Four Spiritual Laws.  He just did what He saw the Father doing.  In the process, people were drawn to the Father and they’d be born again.  They were born again by the demonstration of what the Father was doing in the earth.  Jesus was the Tabernacle of Moses.  What Moses saw in the heavens, he built in the earth.  Jesus was the Tabernacle.  He looked exactly like the Father and when people saw the Father, they wanted to come to Him.  That’s what they’re going to see, the acts of God.

And when they see Jesus moving, how can they say, “No?”

That’s right.  They won’t be able to refute it.  That’s the wisdom of Steven (Acts 7).  Steven had irrefutable wisdom.  There was power on his preaching too.  There was prophetic power to it.  It’s just like when you think of Jonah.  Jonah had a power on his tongue.  He never worked a single miracle and yet everyone from the kings to the cattle repented. 

There’s a power coming on preaching and people are going to notice the difference.  There will be a sound in the sound.  There will be a voice in the voice.  It will draw.  But this can happen to anybody whose willing and obedient.  Not just open, because you have to seek this.  You’ll miss it if you’re only open.  But you’ve got to seek it diligently, desire earnestly and burn with lust for prophecy.

What can we expect to see in the Wal-Mart parking lot in three months?

Well, once we get permission (I don’t want to violate any rules), I’d like to have perhaps a circle of bongos, an acoustic guitar and acoustic instruments and believers praying in the Spirit.  People will be drawn to the worship.  They’re going to be attracted to people that are passionate for Jesus.  They’re not going to know it’s a passion for Jesus.  They’ll notice it as passion that they don’t have.  They’ll notice it as purpose they don’t have. 

Spontaneously, those that are part of the service group will, as the Lord leads, go into the people, among the people and just start ministering the love of God in whatever way, and do it all prophetically.  It all needs to be straight from God.  If God’s not doing it, we don’t need to be doing it. 

Where else do you plan to take this kind of ministry?

Local parks.  We plan to go to the inner city.  We may even find there are some restaurants that let us come in.  Or we can even go to some nightclubs.  Who knows?  Everybody is going to have input.  We had one girl who was there tonight, she goes to strip clubs and ministers to strippers and prostitutes.  She gets them saved and they come to her home group.  We have people that are already in the front lines of this. 

Let’s talk about children.  There were a number of children there tonight.  Some of them were dancing before the Lord, waving banners, some were painting. Some were just sitting there.  Is it effective to bring children into ministry that way?

I think I am a product of my background.  MorningStar has always been very free in that respect.  I think we’re going to be a little bit more free than even I’m used to and it’s going to offend me, but I’ve got to be willing to get over it.  I can’t limit myself to what I’m used to.  Tonight I noticed that if I looked at what the children were doing with my eyes, I would probably think there needs to be some correction.  But then I started to think, “Is this disturbing God?”  If it’s not disturbing Him, then it doesn’t need to be corrected.  If the people are distracted, that’s because they are distractible.  We need to rise above that  and be able to worship over and above all the distractions or it’s not really worship.

This leads to another question.  You were talking about training the children for ministry, just like adults.  How would you do this?

You’ve heard of David Walters, of Good News Ministries?  He is a children’s ministry equipping ministry.  He takes children and equips them in the Holy Spirit with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We’re going to use a lot of his material.  We’re going to stay in close contact with MorningStar.  They’re going to keep giving us wisdom about how to do this. 

I think the main thing they need to experience is not so much teaching and instruction because they don’t really have all the screwed up thinking we adults do about spiritual gifts.  So they don’t really need correction and adjustment.  They just need a forum through which they can just do it.  They’ll make fewer mistakes because they’re less inhibited.  We make mistakes because we think to much.  The prophetic training is really to correct those myths and fallacies and to free us up.  The kids don’t really need it.  They’ll be teaching us.  They’ll be leading us.

What you said about the role of leaders was fascinating.  It’s a lot different from what I’ve heard from traditional sources.  How do you see your role as a leader developing?

More and more hidden.  More and more behind the scenes.  I call it non-leading leadership where you lead more by influence and you lead more by example.  Do I have to say so much, really?  If I’m really living a good example, I shouldn’t have to say very much.  Let the people do it. 

In church history we always notice it took one man or one woman to start something, but then it always became a body.   Moses became a priesthood.  This needs to turn into a many-membered leadership where they do it all and each individual cell of the body is functioning in direct communication with the Head.  I’m not a big part of this,  I just kicked it off.  That’s it. 

Last Minute Challenge:  Oh, No … No Musicians

Friday morning Joel Killion got a phone call saying the expected out of town musicians could no longer make it.  Two local musicians, Greg Wheeler and Steve “Bones” Collins, ended up filling in.  The change of plans did not upset the Holy Spirit Who blessed with an hour of mostly spontaneous worship.  Here are a few excerpts from the evening’s Song of the Lord:

“Press into Your heart,

Press into Your holiness,

I want to be changed forever.”

“I’m not putting boundaries on You, Lord.

“No more boxes for You, Lord.

“If we’re not loving our enemies,

Do we really love You?”

“When they come through the doors of our house,

They will instantly be healed.

A supernatural hospital.”

“We’re not gonna rush things.

We want to be consumed by You.

With You all things are possible.

When it seems that Hell is coming on over us,

You say, ‘Peace, My sons and my daughters.’”

Frontlines School of the Spirit currently meets at Forest Hills Clubhouse, 1001 Forest Hills Road, Wilson, NC 27896.  There is no fee.  Donations are welcome if prompted by the Lord.  For more information, click here.