A Wonderful Beginning, January 2017

A VERY HOPEFUL REPORT ON THE REVIVAL MINISTRY OF DR. RICK FLANDERS IN JANUARY 2017

The first month of this new year saw great things in our work, and gave us great hope concerning the revival movement in our world.  Please read the brief descriptions below of where the Lord sent us, and what He did with us.

• Willis Baptist Church, Willis, Michigan. On the first Sunday of the year (which was the first day, New Year’s Day) I was invited by Pastor Jim McKinnies to come and help this fine church start the ministry of the coming twelve months.  We had a good day, with blessed services on critical subjects, and I learned of this congregation’s intentions to be thoroughly involved in the revival efforts rising up around Michigan.
• The Men’s Prayer Encounter in southern Alabama. Evangelist Tom Palmer every year leads a life-changing retreat for men at a camp in the south, dedicated to preaching, teaching, and practicing prayer.  This year it happened January 5, 6, and 7, and I was there to help.  We had a wonderful time!
• Grace Bible Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. On January 8, I got to preach at this wonderful church led by Pastor Rubin Ruffin, and I tried to help by speaking on abiding in Christ (how to live the Christian) and on hope for the backslider.  There were a good number of Christians who made public decisions to come back to a close walk with God.  Pray for this church.  At the end of the morning service, I was surprised to see Dr. Troy Shoemaker and his wife Denise from Pensacola Christian College standing in the foyer.  He is president of the College, and she is his capable assistant.  Of course, they are busy at the Campus Church on Sunday, and I was amazed to find that they had come over to Grace after they were finished there.  I love them (have known them for years) and PCC, and ask you to pray for them.
• The History of Revival class at Baptist College of Ministry, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. January 11-19 I had the privilege to teach this class to a fine group of both undergraduate and graduate students studying in this great institution for a life of service to God.  My teaching this class every couple of years is one of the great privileges of my life.  It is a block course on the Bible, theology, philosophy of ministry, and also history.  Through the class I am able to influence in the right direction folks who are bound to be great leaders in the work of the Gospel.
• Faith Baptist Church in Temple, Texas. Several months ago, Pastor Michael Lewis asked me to come to his church for a Sunday to help him in taking the congregation down the right road.  I was there (for my first time in Texas) on January 22, and taught on the supernatural aspects of the Christian life from John 14 in Sunday school.  Then in the morning service I took us to John 15 to learn the right way to live a victorious life.  In the evening service, my subject was the “I cannot” phase of the Christian life as opposed to the “I can” phase.  The Lord seemed to make the truth clear from both John 15:4-5 and Philippians 4:12-13, and there was a phenomenal public response.  A visiting lady came forward and got saved, and many Christians told the Pastor about a corner they were turning in their spiritual life that day.  At the end of the day a great number of us joined in a corporate prayer meeting where the Lord was helping (Romans 8:26) and the sense of His guidance and enabling was very real.  This was a transforming day, I feel, and Pastor and I are making plans for me to come back to work with him in a revival campaign.  Pray for them.
• The National Symphony of Prayer in Grass Lake, Michigan. I landed at Metro Airport in Detroit on my flight from the heart of Texas, and drove in my car which I had parked there to the camp at Grass Lake where John Van Gelderen and RevivalFocus Ministries had organized a twenty-four-hour gathering for prayer.  God was with us for many sessions of prayer and of instruction.  It was really good, and I believe we will see results from this meeting in the form of answers to prayer.  I appreciated Brother Van Gelderen’s putting this retreat in my state of Michigan where so many are engaged in prayer and work for revival.
• Pastors’ Meeting at First Baptist Church of Bridgeport, Michigan. We had announced that there would be a meeting for pastors at the Bridgeport church on January 26 to help the Michigan Revival Conference in June.  It turned out very well!  A good number of preachers came from all over the state, and we made real progress.  Information was given to the leaders of many congregations regarding the revival movement, commitments were made (and are being made) in areas where we need help, and an intense prayer meeting for revival took place at the end in the large auditorium.  At Cracker Barrel afterward, several of us planned two more pastors’ meetings for the months between now and the Conference.
• Revival Campaign at Bible Baptist Church of Mattoon, Illinois. January 29-February 3 are the days that are set for this effort at a good church led by Pastor Ryan Hayden.  We are in the midst of the campaign right now, and had a prayer meeting after the service.  Please pray for us, especially in the next few days.

Keep praying for me, especially in the work God is giving me for the Cause of revival in this world.  In February, I am to preach on prayer and revival at the Parker Memorial Baptist Church in Lansing, Michigan, on the 4^th and the 5^th; at the “Bended Knee” Pastors’ Prayer Seminar at Pleasantville Baptist Church in Pleasantville, Iowa, on the 9^th (also preaching at the church on the 8^th); at the Sweetheart Banquet of Fundamental Baptist Church in Kinross, Michigan, on the 11^th, and on the subjects of prayer and revival in the church services on the 12^th; teaching on Church History at the CoBeAc Baptist Bible Institute in Houghton Lake, Michigan, the 13^th through the 16^th; in another meeting of pastors to move forward plans for the Michigan Revival Conference on the 14^th; in a revival campaign at the Gospel Baptist Church in Poland, Ohio, the 19^th through the 24^th; preaching on prayer and revival at the Fostoria Baptist Church near my home in Michigan on the 26^th; and in the Victory Conference at the Falls Baptist Church at Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, the 27^th through March 2^nd.  As you can see, the Lord is having me do a lot in strategic places in my home state, as part of the revival movement in Baptist churches across Michigan.  Please pray for this movement, and for other indications of revival around the world.

RICK FLANDERS