Modern day Revival: Catalyst for
Transformation
by Theron WalzThe primary reason that God
stirs the hearts of men and women with a passion for "revival" is
transformation. Whether it be for an individual or a whole city or nation,
things happen when people get hungry for something more and start praying
for their town, their friends and family! The transformation begins when people have an encounter with
God.
The type of encounter people have can greatly influence the direction this
journey takes; if it's an intellectual encounter, the journey will
primarily be one of intellectualism. If it's an encounter brought on by
fear or coercion, it will be one of hiding and shame. If it's one done in
the excitement of the moment, it's usually shallow, though not every
time.
We believe that God is a personal Being; that is, He is deeply interested
in everyone and desires a personal relationship with all. We believe that
if a person has a genuine, personal encounter with God, their journey will
be one of intimacy and relationship.
Our particular "flavor" of ministry is one of relationship. In addition to
our regular meetings, you will oftentimes find us doing unusual things for
ministers like working on people's cars, building stuff, fixing things,
playing music at restaurants, coffee shops and other gathering places (no
bars though) and just hanging out with people wherever they may be found.
For us, it's more about genuine connection. We have seen and welcome
demonstrations of the miraculous in our meetings and ardently believe that
the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still in operation today! Each of our
family members operates in one of the five-fold ministry offices and we
take every opportunity we can to pray for the sick. However, our main
focus is intimacy with Jesus. Our
deepest passion is to see you have a genuine encounter with God and for
that encounter to richen your life, bring freedom from bondage and release
you into your destiny as a world changer with God.
What it looks like::
In a typical tent meeting of ours, you will find the inside of the tent
warm and homey feeling. Our family likes to keep things on a personal
level and tries to personally meet everyone who comes through the doors.
The meeting will invariably end up starting ten minutes late as we finish
up this segment!
Next will come a short greeting and introduction by Allen, the
patriarch of the family.
Then the worship starts. Playing together for so long and so often, our
family of five greatly enjoys these times as we churn out the sweet tunes
of God-melodies for listening ears and hearts to receive. We believe music
is the language of the soul and spend much of this time playing or sharing
from behind our instruments. Interspersed with familiar tunes, we make up
some of our own songs on the fly. We try to keep things understandable for
everyone, but also realize that worship musical style can be a
controversial subject for some and just try to be ourselves. We like to
have fun!
The dynamic tag team of Allen and Cheryl give the big picture by
dialogging back and forth with each other and our guests (the audience)
while bring a relevant message. Allen, who plays bass guitar, has a
passion to see people from many different backgrounds come together in
unity to experience Jesus. His heart is that not one would miss an
opportunity to encounter God and is gifted as an exhorter; he is a true
father to many sons and daughters in the faith.
Cheryl, the matriarch of the family, is gifted as a teacher and in the
prophetic. She plays keyboard and sings. She operates in a realm of
prophetic insight not often seen paired with such genuineness of heart and
honesty. Cheryl is a woman of the deep faith and speaks undiluted truth;
many are the changed lives as a result of her motherly insight and
support!
The compassionate side of the picture is covered by Shiloh (14), who
shares from a heart of mercy on the Love of God. She also has a deep love
for children and, when she isn't playing drums or singing, you will often
find her holding a baby or small child in her arms.
The cowboy side of things is covered by our resident buckaroo, Calvin
(22). Calvin plays electric, steel and acoustic guitars. A budding horse
trainer and roper, Calvin will sometimes use a lariat and roping dummy to
illustrate a brief, but very enlightening and well thought out talk from
his heart of servanthood.
Forever playing the guitar and piano, I, Theron (25), get to lead the band
and teach on the core values we live by and endeavor to pass on to others.
Comedy is something that I indulge in quite often (though many times on
accident) and I get great joy by making people's day a little brighter
through some goofy thing I end up doing.
So that's the story! I could go on with so many other things, but this is
way too long already. Up next and lastly is "Stories from the Journey;
what happens when you step over the edge."
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