In this space we’ll feature some of the articles which have appeared in French, in Victoire magazine.
Interview with Steve Hill–Evangelist of the Pensacola Revival
Here’s part of an interview we conducted with Steve Hill, the evangelist for the Pensacola revival a few years back. He’s now pastoring in the Dallas area as well as continuing an evangelistic ministry.
We pick up the interview as he talks of the beginning of the Pensacola revival.
“…the church had been praying for two years for revival.
I went that Sunday morning, just shared. I’d seen the move of God. been around the move of God. I just shared with them how God can touch them, how God can use them. I gave an altar call, half the church came forward. I started laying hands on them and that service let out at 4 o’clock that afternoon.”
“On Father’s day, now, most men are ready to go out to lunch. We jokingly say we had lunch with out heavenly Father that lasted until four. We came back at six and that service lasted until three in the morning. We came back the next night at seven and that service lasted until 2-3 o’clock. For the next three months I would get back to the hotel as the sun was coming up. And it wasn’t because we wanted to stay there. It was ‘who wouldn’t stay as the spirit of God is touching lives.’
“… people have asked me, ‘ when revival comes down how long should the services last.’ When the presence of the God comes in the building the last thing on your mind is the clock. You could care less about time…you can’t cause 4 million people to come from all over the world to a church because the singing is great. Hundreds of thousands received Christ as Savior.
I’ve traveled the world and held crusades all over the world since 2000 and the lives that were transformed, the churches that have been planted…really what Brownsville was, was a watering hole. People would come, get a fresh touch from God, a lot along the lines of Azusa. People got touched and went out. That’s what happened at Brownsville.
One story that sticks with you from Brownsville?
One great story and this is from a pastor. He came. He was out of the New Jersey area. He came. He’d been pastoring there for seven years, was completely exhausted. The church was running 40 people. Just tired. He wanted God to move. One of his parishioners had come down to the revival, seen what God was doing and said “pastor, you’ve got to go down there.”
He came down, sat in the back. When it was altar call time he came forward, not for salvation but for the special prayer. I laid hands on him, he was touched by the power of God, went back to his church. In six months his church grew from 40 to 1,000. Now the reason I can speak plainly about this is because I’ve preached in his church. I’ve been there.
He called me up. He said, “You’re not going to believe what’s happening.” And I went back up, I went to his church and all the stories were true. What happened was the power of God was attracting the lost like bees to honey. This is all validated.
A man in the local community who owned a discothèque, a dance hall … and also was part of the Mafia, he came and what happened was the people were not coming to his dance hall, his discotheque. They were going to this church. So he came and stood in the back of his church with a couple of his thugs … and was watching it. The pastor saw him and knew who he was, and he asked him to come forward in the church service. He came forward—unsaved—and the pastor said, “Can I help you?” He said “yeah, I want to know why so many people are filling up your parking lot and are not in my parking lot.”
He said, “Well, we’re experiencing a move of God.” Then the pastor said, “Can I pray for you?” And the pastor laid hands on him, he was hit by the power of God, his associates were hit by the power of God. When I went there, these guys had become ushers and were now in their Bible school. They’d started a school to train them up. They’d closed the discotheque, thrown their guns into the river.
These are the kinds of stories I’ve seen in revival. France needs to see this in revival. It’s all the power of God.
I ask pastors, if you’re not going to accept God’s mode of revival…God’s mode of operation over the years has been pretty dramatic. You can see when it comes so a pastor today who wants revival, what does he think it’s going to look like? Do you think half of France is going to suddenly come walking in singing, “Just as I Am”?
There’s got to be dramatic conversions. There’s got to be a point of contact between heaven and earth and often times it’s messy. The day of Pentecost, and this is a great example, the day of Pentecost was a violent day. These guys were in the upper room, they were praying, they were going after God and then “suddenly” the Bible says, in comes this rushing wind, tongues of fire starts to settle on all the believers, and what do they do? They begin speaking in languages they’ve never spoken before. This is wild Pentecost.
And they go outside. Peter has enough sense not to focus on the manifestations. He focuses on the message. And he says, “Men and brethren, we’re not drunk as you think we are. It’s early in the morning. Let me tell you about Jesus. They scream out–they don’t scream out, “What must we do to receive this language?” “What must we do to stumble as a drunken man?” They say, “What must we do to be saved?”
Pastors need to take a look at that, accept the violent part of it. Let God move, but then from that, have enough sense to preach the truth and what really the people need.
(During his conference in Sarcelles, France (Paris area) in October 2007 we had the occasion to visit with David Wilkerson).
Some images flash on your consciousness and are frozen there for the rest of your life. For some De Gaulle will always be the tall general striding through the streets of Norman towns and cities comforting people at the beginning of the liberation. John Kennedy will always be the smiling, confident young man, shot down in the prime of life.
For those who grew up after David Wilkerson’s seminal book, the Cross and the Switchblade, which chronicled his outreach to gangs in New York, he’ll always be the fiery, young evangelist, challenging Nicky Cruz with God’s love in the streets of New York.
More than 50 million copies of the book in 40 different languages tell the story of the beginning of the ministry of Teen Challenge. This organization is now 50 years old and boasts 625 centers around the world.
Others picture Wilkerson as the steely prophet, calling the world to repentance in his book, The Vision, and other works which followed this powerful view of coming events.
So, you’re surprised to find that the young evangelist and the courageous prophet have now become a father in the Church. The angular features are still there but a full head of grey hair, and a left ear that doesn’t hear as well, tattle the fact that this icon of the evangelical world is a septuagenarian.
Someone asked him what he thought he would be doing ten years from now. With a laugh he replied, “I’m trying to live through one day at a time. I’m 76 and in really good health. I still pastor a church in New York—Times Square Church (where he preaches twice a month)—and travel (to) about five conferences a year.”
Do he still have the stamina? “Enough to get by,” he says, though he must manage his schedule to preserve his energy.
But his belief in the message of Christ hasn’t wavered, “It’s the same answer whether it is homosexuality, whether it is alcohol, drugs, gangs… (Teen Challenge) is 50 years old now. It’s been the same. Jesus has the power to break every habit. There’s nothing new. The problems are new but nothing changes. The message has been the same for 2000 years. More so now than ever before it’s simple, straight proclamation of the gospel.”
In spite of his identification with the Teen Challenge ministry from publicity generated for the by the The Cross book, Wilkerson is best known among many evangelicals for his prophecies. Yet he asserts, “I’m not a prophet, I don’t claim to be a prophet. I’m one of many watchmen.”
And he doesn’t claim infallibility either. “If everything I prophesied came true I would be God. I have a tendency to hear from the Lord, then put a date on it. And the mistake is on the date, trying to put it in a box.”
But the fact remains that much of what he prophesied has come to pass.
“Everything I preach prophetically is based on scripture. It’s based on Bible precedent. A lawyer argues his case on precedent. I argue my prophetic points that the Lord gives me from Bible precedent: ‘here’s what God did in the Old Testament. He doesn’t change. That’s what Sodom and Gomorra (was about)… a warning of what God will do to generations that sin like this.”
His vision for the future is pessimistic/optimistic. “The American Gospel that’s being promoted around the world is prosperity. God warned us when He allowed the attack on our towers and the Pentagon—two symbols, the symbol of our power and our pride. The Twin Towers was our pride. The Pentagon was our power. He struck those two to warn us. And we didn’t hear the message.
“I’ve been warning for two years, there’s going to be a housing depression. The prophetic word now…people don’t listen until their pocketbook is affected and it’s going to affect all of Europe. It’s going to hit France in a big way…this economic thing that’s going to hit–excruciatingly.
But in spite of that fearful message he has hope for revival. “We’re living right at the moment that will create a level playing field… The great revival that hit America (in the Fall of 1857) was the day after the Stock Market collapsed–the prayer revival. Out of chaos the prophet Isaiah said there’s going to come a song worldwide, a song of redemption. So in a way that’s where the revival comes. Chaos. All of the prosperity gospels are going to go bankrupt. Their congregations are going to demand answers when they start losing their homes.”
But he notes, “It’s not a time to be afraid.”
Though God has used him mightily, Wilkerson hasn’t lived a life sheltered from pain. These tough times have helped to mold his ministry and make him even more effective as he ministers to others.
“The more you’re in the fire, the more tempered the steel. The Lord tempers His servants” he asserts. “I think you go either one of two ways—you either harden or (you) mellow. The older I got, the more I became aware of the grace I needed and the patience of God with me.
“My wife has had 26 operations, five for cancer, and I began to see the grace that was needed and how merciful He was. My two daughters have cancer and my 11-year old daughter died of a brain tumor.”
In his life this tempering has come in part, “Through the suffering and through the revelation of the heart of God …”
“These are such fearful days and people are so stressed that the Lord seemed to speak to me …I go over my (sermon) notes from the past 35 years… I was a hard preacher but there was always at the end, grace. There was always a word of grace.”
“It takes a lot of practice to put in practice what I was preaching (in the service the night before) because we say, ‘Yes, I believe God loves me and delights in me,’ and next time we stumble we say, ‘How can it be? How are we going to make up for this one?’ Or, ‘Lord, did I cross the line this time? Are you lifting your Holy Spirit from me?’ We all go through those things.
“As long as you live that struggle of the flesh will always be there. Flesh is flesh is flesh. Always will be. That’s not going to change. To trust God through all that and say, ‘Lord … all I can give You is faith.’ That’s when He says, ‘That’s what I want. Quit your struggling. Just faith your way through this til the victory comes.’
He hasn’t always had this perspective though. “I’ve written between 35 and 40 books. There’s probably two of them I would try to call off, and destroy. There’s a few that I can’t live up to because the Lord has taught me things since then. There’s some old sermons, I just tear up the notes and say, ‘When I’m gone these can never be published.’”
So then, a person really walking with God, what would his life be like—inside and out?
“It’s all wrapped up in one word—charity,” Wilkerson says. “It begins in our house. He said if I sold all my goods and gave to the poor and offered my body as a martyr and (was) burned at the stake and if I still was easily provoked, if I had envy and bitterness, it’s all in vain. So that means that if I sell everything and go to the slums in Kenya and I live in a little hut and I’m still easily provoked and I don’t have all these nine signs of charity (Gal. 5:22 ) then it’s nothing to do with talent, it’s nothing to do with education, it has to do with a charitable heart.
“If my wife can’t tell you I’m growing in Christ, if my wife after 56 years of marriage can’t tell you that we’re in love now, more than when we started, then my ministry has been in vain.”
But how do you keep growing? “By giving up all your rights. I have no need to be right. We both gave up our rights as far as our relationship to one another. This need to be right, we give that up and that (solves) all your arguments,” he says with a smile.
“Then to be a servant to one another and my children. I have four children and ten grandchildren. All four of my children are in the ministry.”
Wilkerson relates the story of a well-known healing preacher. The pastor’s wife sat near this man’s wife in the congregation. The evangelist was a hero and considered a great man. The pastor’s wife asked the evangelist’s wife, “What’s it like living with such a great prophet?” The answer? “I don’t know. That’s not the man that comes home. That’s not the man I live with.”
“So I think the judgment begins at the house, the home,” Wilkerson concludes. If I’m not charitable, it’s going to tell. It will come out.”
The venerable pastor sees a lot of cause for hope in France, in spite of the spiritual battles. “France has become very secularized, probably as much as any European country. Yet I’m encouraged on this trip. I think this is my fourth trip to France over the many years. And I see a lot of young ministers with a lot of hope, confidence, and faith and zeal for God. I’m more encouraged this trip than I was 30 years ago… I think the French are high-spirited which is a good thing but I think that’s been tempered with a lot of Holy Ghost love.
“When I was here before there would be a few hundred, and I don’t know how many they have here now… (attendance was around a thousand at some of the services), and a lot of young workers and they’re enthusiastic. They are more connected with one another through internet; there are far more outreaches and there’s not the competition that my generation (had)—you know, bigness, mega … They’re more interested in knowing who the Lord is. They’re asking the right questions. They’re not afraid. I think there’s a lot of faith, more faith than I saw before.
“So, I’m encouraged. I think there’s a good future for the Church in France.”
There was time for one last question. “If you could say something to French Christians what would you say?”
He closed his eyes and thought a long time before finally offering, “To keep the faith that the Church of Jesus Christ is going to prevail. That no false religion is ever going to overtake the promises of God that the Church of Jesus Christ is going to prevail in the last days.
“No other religion … Islam is not going to take over the world. Hold the faith that God is going to protect us. God loves His Church. God loves His people. He knew all this was going to happen. The harder the times get the closer the Body is going to become, more knit together. I think it’s going to be a tremendous time of spiritual bonding where denominational barriers … will disappear and all who know Christ will drawn together.
“I see nothing but absolute hope–no despair.”
When God Shook Mt. Beliard, France
Nothing hinted that a powerful work of God was about to start in the town of Montbeliard, France, this night of 1972.
Three young people were goofing around near a fountain in a plaza at about 11pm. The boys tried to throw the young woman in the fountain. Everything changed when a woman about 55 years old, led by the Holy Spirit, arrived at the plaza. She spoke to them about Jesus Christ. The young people, intrigued, agreed to her invitation to come to her house to hear more of God’s Word. Jean-Marie, brother of the young lady, was especially moved at the beginning, then his sister Danielle (now Danielle Vergnol) was touched by Holy Spirit.
Soon there was a whole group of young people at André and Georgette Richard’s house. Sitting on the floor, they sang and praised God. Confused lives were changed radically. Many from this group now serve the Lord full-time, nearly thirty years later.
But did this happen only by chance? The Sixties and the beginning of the Seventies were a turbulent time in Western countries. The streets of Paris resembled a war zone in May l968. Riots and demonstrations shook large cities in America. And everywhere, young people were questioning the established order. Often these questions expressed themselves in an odd clothing, long hair, a counter-culture life style–drugs, rebellious music, and rejection of authority. But many searched for reality. Mr. and Mrs. Richard had prayed for years for these disillusioned young people.
One of the them remembers years afterwards:” There were knee-prints in the carpet next to Mrs. Richard’s armchair.“ After years of prayer, the Holy Spirit propelled her into the streets, sometimes even at night! She seemed the the least qualified person in the world to speak to these long-haired young people, called “hippies.” As the director of a nursery school, she was well known in Montbeliard, a town of 30,000 inhabitants. Compassion drove her, and with no fear for her reputation she talked and talked and even invited these funny-looking (to traditional eyes) young people to her home.
Some were violent, but with the courage of the Lord Jesus, she spoke to them. Her husband witnessed also. One day she approached a young man, his black hair tumbling to his shoulders, his dirty blue jeans sported psychedelic scribbles. “Young man, Jesus-Christ loves you.” “There’s no God and no devil, ” snorted Guy Bergamini in response. But she wouldn’t back up and a few days later Guy found himself at her house to eat and listen to the gospel with others.
His history had been alcohol, drugs and violence since early adolescence. One night when he was 17, he tried to kill his abusive father when once again he began beating his mother. His mom pulled him off but he slammed out of the house horribly angry, vowing never to return. He traveled all over in Europe, always hanging with the hippies.
That day when Madame Richard challenged him he was 21 years old and nothing was going right. Thoughts of suicide and depression ravaged his life. When he heard that God loved him and wanted to deliver him, he cried to the Lord with all his strength, “God, if you exist, break these chains that bind me!” And miracle of miracles, that God, who most certainly exists, did it. He came up from his knees a new man.
His girlfriend Elisabeth (who later became his wife) received the same miracle a few weeks later. God healed her also. Doctors had said she would never have a baby. God’s people prayed and she eventually had five.
Gerard Vergnol liked his music. He played in a small group and did a few drugs. God turned his life upside down. Later he married Danielle (remember the girl at the fountain at the beginning?). Claude Huot hated his father, but after Jesus Christ moved into his life, he forgave his dad and God reestablished the relationship. His father even came to the Lord.
Michel Balverde was from Lyon but when he visited Montbeliard, the Holy Spirit grabbed him and he also was saved. Returning to Lyon, he won a young woman to the Lord who later became the wife of Serge Santander. She won Serge. All these and others are in the service of the Lord full-time today thirty years later.
It was an unforgettable time for these young people. Gerard remembers a prayer meeting. They were all sitting on the floor, when he had a vision of a fish swimming in a stream of crystal water. The “fish” was Gerard; he was baptized in the Holy Spirit a short time afterwards. “They immediately put us on the street to testify,” remembers Danielle.
Gerard opened his small apartment for people passing through who did not have a place to sleep, in order to talk to them about Jesus. This sometimes led to some funny situations. Like the night when he returned to his place rather late to find a little Chinese fellow meditating in the darkness. That will get your heart rate back up!
But from these times of revival, young people rose up who wanted to serve the Lord and who still remain faithful after all these years. When we see the condition of our old continent, a cry rises from our heart, “Lord, make us warriors in prayer like the Richards. Make us evangelists without fear, evangelists who have a burning desire to share Jesus Christ with a thirsty world. Make us wise leaders like the church pastor Gichtenaere, who dared to risk something for the glory of God.
Do it again Lord, and do it in me!
