The Sarnia Revival - 2006

The following text just arrived in an email that I received from a friend. A couple, Linda and Paul Cook, from our church attended services in this church this past weekend and vouch for what is happening.

You will be encouraged I am sure as you read what is happening in this assembly.

"Oh God do it - move in our midst as well....."

Pastor Murray Lincoln

DEAR PASTOR AND CHRISTIAN LEADER in Sarnia:

Something very exciting is happening at my church. Never in all my years of ministry have I ever been in a season quite like this. There is a remnant of people at Bethel who have been praying hard for years for a very significant revival to come to Bethel and Sarnia. It seems now that God has released His blessing.

I am very anxious to be in good relationship with each of you and to keep you informed as to what is happening at Bethel. I know that there is a lot of talk about what is happening and again I want to be in good relationship with you.

At the end of March, I called our church to a 21 Day Fast, leading up to Easter Sunday, to pray for God's blessing. I felt strongly in prayer about 2 weeks before the Fast that I was to invite an evangelist friend from Kentucky named Reva Kasey to be with us for 2 special meetings on Tuesday, March 28th and Wednesday, March 29th. She responded that she could not come due to commitments. Monday morning, March 27th, she called and said the Lord had awakened her in the night and told her she must come. Monday we bought a plane ticket and flew her in that night. Tuesday night was a great service, but Wednesday night for me, was when it all happened. We had a wonderful time of worship and then when Reva stood up to speak. There was such an awareness of the presence of God. As I was sitting down in my seat, I could see a cloud in our Sanctuary. I turned to a few people behind me and said, "I see a cloud!" No sooner had I said that then Reva said "I see a cloud of God's glory in this place." When she said that, the place just broke out of worship and people began spontaneously coming to the altar. Reva could not continue to minister as the people just came. If you were to read 2 Chronicles 5:14, it would be an accurate description of what was happening in our service. Many very credible people testified of also seeing this cloud.

From that service on, we have been having outstanding services. Easter Sunday was the final day of our Fast. The Sunday night service is typically a low attendance service with it being a holiday. We had close to 300 people in the service. Our service did not end until after 11PM. Our Sunday offering for that Sunday was almost $41,000. The power of God was flowing so strong as people were being touched by the power of God.

As we concluded our Fast, I prayed and said to the Lord, "Lord this cannot be just a 21 Day season. Someone needs to come (Evangelist or special meetings) or something has to happen to keep this momentum.

On Sunday, April 16th, a young adult in our city gave me a piece of paper with the name of an Evangelist named Tom Scarrella. I had never heard of him before. This young man said I should check out his ministry. I did. I went on his web-site http://www.scarrella.com/ and investigated. I was impressed and gave him a call on Monday, April 17th. Immediately when I talked with him I felt that he was to come. It happened that he was going to be in services in Toronto the weekends of April 23rd and April 30th and that he was available for a mid-week service. That service took place on Wednesday, April 26th. The presence of God was so strong in that service. Tom and I talked during the service and agreed to go another night. Then another night. Then another night. He left Saturday night after the service. I must say I have never been so impressed with an Evangelist. He cancelled a meeting in Toronto on Saturday night to stay with us one more night and received the offering for our ministry. By the way, we cancelled our Saturday night Uganda Fundraising concert for Revival instead Sunday night, April 30th, we had approximately 400 people in our service and the power of God fell. I decided then to go yet another night - 6 nights in a row. Pastors you would understand this. Monday night we had no special evangelist/speaker, no special worship band, and between 200 to 300 people were in our service. And it was awesome!! For over an hour there was a crying and calling out for the mercy of God to come to Sarnia. Many did not leave the service until after 11PM.

People are now calling this "The Sarnia Revival" and we are encouraging this. In the last 7 days of services, we have had people come from: Toronto, Brantford, Brampton, Woodstock, Petrolia, Wyoming, Oil Springs, Walpole Island, Kettle Point, Port Lambton, Warren Michigan, Marysville MI, St. Clair Heights MI, Sault Saint Marie Ontario, Lansing MI, Madison Heights MI, Howell MI, Wallaceburg, and Corunna!

Last night, about 7 or 8 students were in the service from the Assembly of God church in Marysville, MI. They were asking for prayer for the revival fire to burn brighter in their youth group. God touched them powerfully!!!

Over the last 30 days and last 6 days in particular, we are also seeing many notable miracles. Here are just a few:

Harry Knight - Cancer under the eyes - HEALED! - documented by the eye doctor

Boy named Keith - Blindness - HEALED! His parents were in the service Friday night and verified his healing along with their Pastor, Bali Swarath. Tanya Richardson, also gave a follow-up testimony as Keith is a student in her school where she is the principal (Lighthouse Sarnia). She said in her class today they had the boy stand at the back of the classroom and read from off the chalk board. The whole class started praising God because everyone knew this boy could have never done that before.

Steve McGowan - Total Deafness in left ear for 20 years - HEALED can now hear perfectly! Steve McGowan, who owns a carpet business in town, testified of how he was healed in the Friday night service of total deafness in his left ear - which he has had for over 20 years. He called his wife from the service on his cell phone and told her he was talking to her and listening with the ear that used to be totally deaf.

Peggy Davis - Partial Deafness in one ear - HEALED!

Young 6 year old Girl - tormented by demonic dreams every night - HEALED! & BAPTISED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Young Teenage girl named Morgan - HEALED of Scoliosis!

Lorraine with Back Condition & walked with a limp - HEALED!

Wendy - Healed 3 weeks ago from the shoulder condition and depression for 4 years - Her doctor is now weaning her off anti-depressants!

Rob - Healed of Inflamed Knee!

Glenda - Healed of painful tendonitis!

Diane - Healed of arthritis!

PLUS - many being baptized in the Holy Spirit! Also people repenting to people who they had hurt or held bitter feelings against for years! I have had a few people come up to me with much tears as they asked me to forgive them for harboring bitterness for years due to past hurts. Some of these people used to attend Bethel years ago but left because of offence. They were asking me, as the Pastor now, to forgive them. This is real stuff!

Another WONDERFUL THING I AM SEEING - there have been a few people in our church that I have been very concerned for. Their church attendance and involvement was very much in decline or almost non-existent. I am now seeing some of these people getting absolutely of "FIRE" for God. They are coming out to services every night. These are from some people who would miss 2 or 3 Sunday morning services in a row before! It is wonderful with what is now taking place in their lives!

THIS IS REVIVAL! My Pastoral Staff is pumped! They and all my Elders are fully on board! It is Wonderful!

We are planning to continue as we discover what God has for us. Tonight, Tuesday May 2nd will be a time for prayer and tomorrow night will be another Revival Service at 7PM. We are going day by day but I do think that we will be having services every night this week.

Please know that you are WELCOME! We would love to have you!

So you know what to expect: Every service a little different! There is no set agenda! But in most services now, people come to the front and we have very jubilant worship, then we either move into a ministry time or sharing of the Word. Many people are receiving the presence and power of God and are falling out under the presence of God. Many are crying, others are filled with the joy of the Lord! There is no rush to these meetings!

In an effort to Pastor this blessing, I have begun to put some things in place:
1. We are purposely calling this "The Sarnia Revival." Not the "Bethel Revival". We are also desiring to honor every Pastor in the city and to encourage each person to remain committed to their local church and Pastor.

2. We are asking in each service that ONLY the Pastoral Staff and Elders of Bethel will be praying for people with the ministry of the laying on of hands/personal ministry. We ask that any pastors who come simply be in an attitude of receiving to take back any blessing to their church.

3. We are encouraging people to sign-up to join a "Sarnia Revival e-mail list." This list is ONLY for the purpose of communication of Revival meetings and testimonies. There will be no solicitation and we will not promote any Sunday morning meetings. We will not use this list for any other purposes. I have taken the liberty to add your name to this e-mail list so that you are well informed of our communication.

4. There have been a few minor situations we have had to bring correction to. Very little really. Mostly a few young people who lack the maturity to receive the presence of God. While there is no doubt God is genuinely moving on them, due to lack of maturity at times we have had to correct some silliness. Although we are certainly encouraging their passionate worship. Considering everything going on, we have had very few problems.

5. We are very much praying for every church. We are also encouraging the people NOT to have any judgmental spirit towards anyone who might not be come /or come to the Revival meetings.

There is a link to a video and audio of the service on Monday night. We are hoping to do better with this type of communication even within the next week.

I am very busy these days but abundantly blessed. I would be happy to dialogue with you should you have any questions.

Thanks for listening - LORD BLESS EVERY CHURCH AND PASTOR WITH AN ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF YOUR SPIRIT AND ANOINTING!

Video of healing
http://www.bethelsarnia.com/video/healing.mpg (6MB)

Audio of last night repentance
http://www.bethelsarnia.com/audio/cryingout.wav (11MB)

(NOTE: each download may take a minute with high speed internet. We are currently working to be able to provide better video/audio quality and speed. A Sarnia Revival Web-site will also be up in the next week!)

Pastor Tim Gibb

Senior PastorBethel Pentecostal Church

1565 London Line

Sarnia, OntarioN7T

7H2(519) 542-7731