Leadership International 2008

Last week I was down in Brighton at the annual Newfrontiers leadership conference. These are always great times, where around 6,000 leaders gather from across the world for four days of worship and teaching.

Something like 90 countries of the world were represented with all manner of international delegates making the long journey to the south coast of England, so it really was a conference of the bigger picture.

Each year Terry Virgo, the founder and father of Newfrontiers, invites a headline speaker who is outside of our movement to come and bless us. This year we had one of my inspirations, Mark Driscoll.

Delegates get to choose from a range of seminars covering a whole host of topics. These are available for free download from here. I went to the seminar series that my friend Julian was teaching in, entitled 'Prophetic Encounter.' These three sessions looked at the prophetic ministry and how it works alongside the apostolic, other prophetic, and the pastoral. It was a great time of information and impartation, just how anointed teaching should be!

I'm not going to detail each and every session I was at, as Adrian Warnock has done that excellently here. But for some of you who have never been to the Brighton Conference, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about!

First things first: the days are long! The day starts at 9am, which means for us commuting from Hastings we left at 7am to ensure we weren't caught out by rush-hour traffic. Thankfully, we got to Brighton in good time each day, giving me the opportunity to catch a McDonald's breakfast with various friends from my church. There is something about a double sausage and egg mcmuffin, obscenely large coffee and good company that sets up the day beautifully.

Whilst the seminars are going on, the 2,500 or so student and 20s meet in 'Mobilise' where they have there times of worship, teaching and their own seminars. Being on the verge of 30 - not quite, but almost - I was very jealous. Until I saw the wide range of skinny jeans and Russell Brand-esque hair. The guys dressed strangely as well....

Come 11am, our seminars finish and the non-Mobilise delegates all come together for worship and a sermon. Afterwards is our short lunch break, which is really an all out frenzy for the nearest coffee bar. But at 2.30pm we come back together, with the Mobilise guys, for an afternoon session of worship and teaching. This year, each afternoon teaching session was done by Mark Driscoll. All I can say is the guy was superb. Download the talks and see for yourself!

4pm is a dinner break, which is three hours long! Its a great time to catch up with friends. I myself had time with a friend from South Africa, and other UK churches other days. One evening four of us watched Hancock in the Odeon Cinema next to the conference centre. Premium seats as well!

At 7pm we come together for our final worship and teaching session, and between 9.30pm and 10pm leave for the hour long journey home. Getting in at 11pm-ish and getting ready for the next, I collapsed into my bed tired and drained, but happy. Happy until my alarm pierced my skull like an aural rapier at 6.15am the next day....

I can't really summarise the conference in a paragraph or so in a way that does it justice. God spoke to me, yes - from the first day, through worship songs, through corporate prophetic words, through personal prophetic words and of course through great teaching and preaching. Threads that came throughout the week to us all as a movement was an emphasis of mission, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and preparation for a new season. There were no doubt other things too, but times like this need to be digested and assimilated.

I'd recommend downloading any and all main sessions and seminars you can get your hands on. They will do you good! But there is something to be said for being in a gathering of the people of God, connecting with Him and being sent out on mission again. In that sense, I'd recommend more-so you join me there next year!

Book Review: Good Morning, Holy Spirit by Benny Hinn

Benny Hinn is a controversial figure to many, with opinions spread far and wide on his character, credibility, theology and methodology. However there is no denying his profile or the influence and impact of his ministry.

His book, entitled 'Good Morning, Holy Spirit' is Hinn sharing his insights and views on intimacy with the Holy Spirit. The book is partly theological, partly testimonial. Hinn interweaves his life story, conversion and filling with the Spirit with his insights on what it means to live a Spirit-empowered Christian life. The book is shamelessly Charismatic, and due to the part-autobiographical content is often an unpacking and explanation of Hinn's personal experiences. This for me opened up an interesting question - how much of his scriptural interpretation is exegesis, and how much is eisegesis? Meaning, are his experiences shaped by his scriptural views or are his scriptural views shaped by experiences? This is is more of an observation that a criticism but is something I held in the back of my mind as I read the book.

Naturally, this lead me onto another question - because the book is testimonial, it is as much about Benny Hinn as it is about the Holy Spirit. Therefore, is his story the 'norm' for the Christian life? Or is Hinn blessed with an unusual level of anointing to empower him for his calling as a healing evangelist? Its important to understand that only one of us is called to be Benny Hinn - and that's Benny Hinn. However, there are many principles, insights and lessons that are present in this book that I believe are to be part of the Christian life 'norm.'

Nailing my colours to the wall, I can't say I struggled with anything I read - in fact, quite the opposite: I was challenged and inspired to get to know the Holy Spirit more. In John 16:7 Jesus - the incarnate God-man - said it is better he goes so he can send the Spirit! So the Holy Spirit is a key person in our friendship with God - Hinn basically spends the book investigating this.

Hinn does have some interesting views he shares, especially on the differences in role and function within the Godhead. Many would not agree with him but I leave you to read the book and make your own mind up!

Looking at each chapter, the points that made me think the most are as follows:

1. The Holy Spirit has come to bring revelation of all God has given us (1Corinthians 2:12).

2 and 3. Testimony

4. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is the the power of God, the contact person of the Trinity (Eph 2:18)

5. God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit - often using scripture, but not exclusively. The Spirit wants to be with us, fellowship with us, share together, partner with us, be intimate with us, befriend us and lead us.

6. 'Walking in the Spirit' means 'in unison with'; 'one with'; 'connected to'; 'fellowship with'.

7. 'Be filled with the Spirit' (Eph 5:18) is in a present, ongoing Greek tense - we are to keep on being filled.

8. The Holy Spirit brings authority and power from God into our lives.

9. Anointing comes to us as we make room for the Spirit in our lives.

10. Trinitarian roles (1 Cor 12:4-6) - The Father operates; The Son administrates; The Spirit manifests.

11. Blasphemy against the Spirit is a wilful act that can only be committed by the unsaved.

12. The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance - God dwells with us on earth, just as we will dwell with God on the new earth eternally.

As well as being inspired walk more in step with the Spirit, the book led me to contemplate 'power' ministries like Benny Hinn's. Even if the healing's and power are at the level his supporters say, historically he has come out with some controversial theological statements. Question marks over the finance and fruit of his ministry also reign. With such a high profile 'marketplace' ministry, both issues are huge clouds that hang over his work, both in the eyes of Christendom and more importantly the world. It firmed my already existing conviction that ministries like his must be not only covered by the authority of apostolic ministries, but work out of and into local churches.

Biblically I see this in Acts 8:4-8 Philip the Evangelist in Samaria preaches the gospel and sees many cases of healing, deliverance and salvation. But Acts 8:14-17 shows us Philip worked alongside the Apostles to ensure the harvest he saw continued and bore fruit. I have no doubt that the new converts, saved and filled with the Spirit and taught the apostles doctrine, would have formed a new church that would carry on evangelising Samaria after Philip had moved on.

I don't know how Hinn's crusades work with existing churches. But for his ministry, and others like him, there has to be some apostolic authority and interaction so that all the good things that happen can be measured fruit, as opposed to one-off responses that take place in a highly charged meeting, detached from the possibility of proper pastoral follow-up by a local church once Hinn has moved on.

Anyhow, irrespective of your personal opinion on Benny Hinn - or even if you don't have one - I think this book has some interesting insights into what it means to be intimate with the Holy Spirit that make it worth reading.