Last week I received an encouraging report from a pastor in Western North Carolina. I believe this is the beginning of a Holy Spirit raid on the traditional evangelical church throughout the Methodist system. Here it is!

Scott,
I am sending a few emails with photos from our Leadership Day Apart where we used your book. It has been an invaluable resource for us. We used it at our retreat as a way to focus us on God’s plan for renewal in 2010 at Grays Chapel. Your online study questions were a great help in our break out sessions. Thank you for your phone calls and prayers in preparation for this retreat. Over the last few weeks your book has also been the fuel for a sermon series that has seen an amazing response from our congregations. (We will try and have these sermons online in the next week or two.) Our themes have been

Jan. 10th – “The God Who Answers by Fire”
Jan. 17th – “Healing and Restoration”
Jan. 24th – “A Life of Compassion”
Jan. 31st – “The Land of More Than Enough”
Feb. 7th – “Your Latter Will Be Greater”

On January 10th we offered a time of anointing for those who wished to have the Holy Spirit come into their life with fire to come forward. A most amazing thing happened as the entire congregation (nearly two hundred people) stood in unison to come forward. The center isle was filled for the next 20 minutes with people standing and working their way forward for anointing. God is doing an amazing thing among his people at Grays Chapel and we thank you for fanning the flames of this fire. In the weeks since we have seen an increase in those who are unchurched flooding into our sanctuary each week. On Feb. 14th we will start a third worship service during Sunday School to accommodate this increase. May God bless His church with the fire of the Holy Spirit to move us from the frozen chosen to flaming faithful. This is the time of awakening.

Depending on Christ,
Doug Miller
Lead Pastor – Grays Chapel UMC
Franklinville, NC