So I Went to Lakeland…

Xtreme Encounters sent me off to Lakeland to go get some and bring it back to Albuquerque. The money came in for this venture in 2 days. Thanks to those of you who hit my donate button and contributed to this. We wanted to send two people, but that did not happen and the group decided that fearless leader needed to go.

I made reservations on Thursday night to be in Lakeland Friday afternoon. I got the last ticket on the flight. When I got to Tampa, I got the last compact rental car on the lot. When I went to the Saturday morning service, I got the last seat in the main auditorium at Ignited Church. Years ago, I got a prophetic word from one of Morningstar’s prophetic teams that God would always make a way for me to do the things he called me to do, and He has done so in all of this.

When I got to Lakeland, I drove straight to Joker Marchant Stadium. I got there at 6 pm. The meeting started at 7 pm. I got a seat in the last section - all the rest were full an hour before the service started. They had about 12,000 people there.

I have seen Todd Bentley a number of times in the past 4 years. When you don’t see someone often, the growth in them is very obvious. Every time I have seen Todd, I have seen an increase not only in the anointing, but in his humility and in the depth of character he exhibits. The change in this young man since I saw him at Patricia King’s Growing in the Supernatural 1 last May is astounding. By the way, Todd shared extensively how he got what he has at that conference. It is the Friday night service and is available at Patricia’s site. He explains very clearly the differences between the faith that every saint has, gifts of healing, gifts of miracles and gifts of faith and other things that take place in his ministry. It is a very good teaching and if you are curious about how to grow into these things, I would encourage you to get it.

Worship was awesome. Roy Fields is an amazing worship leader. He is also FUN! He knows how to help people enter into the presence of God. I have several videos up on my video tab where Roy is leading worship - listen to him and be blessed. His CDs are available on his site. The presence of the Lord was intense. I haven’t felt the Lord in this dimension before.

During the service, I went out an shared with the vendors who were working the food stands in the stadium. I was amazed at how open they were. I just shared the love of Jesus with them and invited them to come and experience Him for themselves. The amazing thing to me was how open the people in Lakeland are to the gospel. I talked to one girl there who has led over 1,000 people to the Lord since April 2. ONE THOUSAND SOULS! If that doesn’t excite you, you need to get saved.

Yes, there were miracles. Yes, people got out of wheelchairs. Yes, it was amazing. The response of the crowd, though, was to the presence of the Lord. The stuff was great, but what was the most awesome was the fact that the Lord was there in such intimacy. He was showing His great love to people by healing their diseases.

Did Todd preach? No, not really. Not in the sense of a sermon with loads and loads of scripture. The thing is that probably 75% of the crowd were ministers of one form or other. We really don’t need more Word poured into us. What we need is empowerment to DO. We need the release of faith and boldness to DO THE WORKS OF JESUS. We know the Word, but we are not seeing the biblical promise of “As I was sent, so send I you” in our lives.

When Todd explained the gospel, however, there was a tremendous response. There have been people saved in every single meeting, I believe. That is something that excites me and something the heresy hunters need to take into consideration. How many people have you seen saved of late in your church? If it is like most churches I have been in the last 10 years, I would respectfully say, “Shut up.” If you are not seeing souls saved in your ministry, then don’t be critical of ministries that are. When you are doing the stuff with RESULTS, then you have the right to say something. If your doctrine is so correct, then you will see results. If you aren’t seeing souls saved, then you don’t have the right stuff.

After ministering for 4 hours, Todd and his team laid hands on every single person in the stadium. There were probably 10,000 or more who stuck around for the anointing service and Todd laid hands on every single one of us. The team lined us up in two lines all the way around the warm-up track. Todd then prayed for every single person and laid hands on them. They had to do this twice to get all the people.

I don’t fall down. I don’t do courtesy drops. I can count the times in 25 years I have hit the ground. When Todd came by and prayed for me, I hit the ground like a ton of bricks. I hit the ground and stayed there. I could not move for some time. I wasn’t real steady when I managed to get to my feet. I called one of the guys in my church and wasn’t real coherent with him. The group thought it was hysterically funny.

The next morning, I went to Ignited Church and heard Denny Cline. Denny is the pastor of the Albany, Oregon, Vineyard. There was a healing outpouring in his church when Todd came there in 1999, I think it was. He has some wisdom in how to walk through this kind of thing without letting it destroy your church. I wanted impartation from him for wisdom for that reason.

I had all kinds of people pray for me because I am so hungry for the presence of the Lord. I had the girl that led the 1,000 people to the Lord pray for me. Todd prayed for me. Denny prayed for me. A girl from England prayed for me. A group of the most amazing teenagers I have ever encountered prayed for me in the concession area of the stadium.

I am not sure what all I got, but I am not the same person who went to Lakeland. If you get the chance, go. It will change your life and it will change your church. I have been praying impartation on my church and they are getting fire.

There’s a lot of crap being said on the internet. The first question I would ask of those who are bashing this is, “What is going on in your ministry or church?” If they aren’t seeing people saved and transformed on a regular basis, completely discount what they say. If they aren’t reproducing the life of Christ in their lives, they have no discernment or foundation to question this. If they do, then consider the objections they have and weigh them against scripture.