 |
Recently,
Pastor Wayne Murray of Grace Assembly of God in New Whiteland, Indiana, took
transformation to a level far more powerful, impacting and lasting than any
infomercial boasting the latest "miracle" workout. He felt God
leading him to help people in his church and community transforms their
spiritual lives by introducing them to the Holy Spirit.
The challenge?
The church has a large number of people who are from backgrounds that are
non-Pentecostal. While the majority of the people in the church were already
baptized in the Spirit, there was a growing number who were not. Murray
realized that in order to effectively introduce the Holy Spirit to this new
segment of the church, he would have to approach the subject as one would in developing
a close relationship - one meeting
was not going to be enough time.
But Murray and his wife Traci know about challenges. When they first came to
Grace AG 13 years ago, the attendance was far from robust. "We had 26
people," Murray says, chuckling a bit, "and that included my wife and
son." Today, the church runs 1,100 on Sunday mornings and there is
continued growth.
During a time of prayer and fasting at the beginning of the year, Murray
explains that God spoke clearly to him about the urgency for the church to know
what it means to be filled with the Spirit of God. So, the first Sunday of May
2010, Murray and other church leaders launched Fifty Days for Fire - a 50-day study on the power and person of the Holy Spirit.
But Fifty Days for Fire wasn't a once-a-week Sunday-morning-only
adult service effort - it was 50 days that included all services the church
held on Sundays, Wednesday nights and in small groups, with children and
teenagers being a part of the mix as well.
"There's a power in everyone doing one thing at the same time," Murray
says. "We had to begin by trying to form the most basic understanding in a
way children could understand as well as adults. We were trying to reach out to
people [of all ages] who had never heard about the Holy Spirit . . . and to
carefully build a strong foundation on who the Holy Spirit was, what the Holy
Spirit does and why we need to be filled."
What's more, during the first 47 days of the program, Murray did not offer an
altar call for those wanting to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He felt it was vital that people fully
understood the Holy Spirit and the significance of the Baptism before pursuing
the infilling. However, as the services progressed through the weeks, Murray
says he began to notice a sense of anticipation and expectation building.
"People needed time to process, to think, to pray and to be ready to
receive," Murray explains. "They had to have time to ask questions
and investigate Scripture for themselves." He says that perspective was
reflected in people's comments after the conclusion of the 50 days. Many people
who came from other denominations or had formed less than positive opinions on "Pentecostalism"
were grateful for the extra time they needed to fully understand and embrace
the messages being presented.
The program concluded with what Murray calls "The Weekend of Fire."
On Friday and Saturday night and then again on Sunday, services were held with
the sole intent of people receiving the Baptism.
"The idea behind the Weekend of Fire," Murray says, "was to
simply provide an atmosphere where there was no rush, no time limit on the
service - everyone who came wanted to be there. The services were
jam-packed, and most of the time standing-room-only. The excitement and passion
of these services were absolutely palpable. People came ready to receive.
 |
| Murray |
"When we gave the altar call for people to receive the Baptism, more than
100 people came forward," he says, "and over the weekend, more than
100 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit for the first time."
Since Fifty Days for Fire has concluded, Murray says he has seen a
difference in the church.
"We saw a transformation of passion in the services - a lot more intensity
- more intensity when it came to worship and altar time, a lot of energy
throughout the church," Murray says. According to Scripture, one of the
main purposes of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for people to have the
boldness to share their faith. Murray says that's happening as well.
In addition, Murray has more than eight pages of testimonies sharing how the
Holy Spirit has changed and impacted the lives of those who attended the
meetings. Testimonies range from expressing gratitude and sharing Baptism
experiences to telling of healings, the breaking of addictions and operating in
the gifts of the Spirit in the marketplace.
"I don't know how many times I've been thanked for taking this approach to
presenting the Holy Spirit," Murray says. "So many lives have been transformed
as we learn what it means to be people who live life filled with the Spirit of
God."
To learn more about Grace AG, see its website.
