Signs & Wonders Blog

Two nights ago at Rodney Howard-Browne ’s church, I attended a service where evangelist Jonathan Shuttlesworth was the guest speaker. At the end, he offered to pray for everyone. When Jonathan laid hands on me, I didn’t get slain in the spirit but noticed a tingling in my hands afterward. When I woke up the next morning, I felt a stirring in my spirit. Even as I write this, my hands are still tingling.  Christianity is not dependent on feelings such as Mormons urging potential converts to seek after a “burning in the bosom.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us,  “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  Nevertheless, God has often manifested Himself to where I felt Him doing things in me. On the night on my conversion in 1991, my brother-in-law led me in a prayer to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I then felt a surge of electricity flow through my body. All the guilt I felt from the sins I committed suddenly left. One Monday night in 1995, following a street evangelism o...

Over twenty years ago I made the first of what would be many trips to the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida. My initial reaction wasn’t too favorable. Previously I hadn’t heard any sermons from Pastor John Kilpatrick or Evangelist Steve Hill and was taken aback by their in-your-face preaching styles. I would have preferred attending more renewal meetings in Toronto but the Lord kept sending me to Pensacola. Since then I have grown to appreciate the ministry that went forth from Brownsville Assembly of God . Their leadership’s passion for purity and holiness is greatly needed in our churches. Once I posted on Facebook a link to a Steve Hill article warning against heretical teachings invading the church. A fellow minister responded to that with mocking comments. He wrote, “I always cringe when people/prophets/fruitcakes say they have a word of rebuke from the LAWd. He is the God of ALL ENCOURAGEMENT.” Ironically, I spent time with this minister in Pensacola the year be...

Photo by Cathy Wood Twenty years ago on Father’s Day, a powerful revival broke out in the Florida panhandle. Evangelist Steve Hill was a guest speaker at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola. Steve talked about God doing powerful things for him after visiting a church in England. He then offered to pray for people. The Spirit of God swept through the sanctuary. Pastor John Kilpatrick fell to the floor, unable to rise for about four hours. This sparked what became the longest-running revival in U. S. history.  During the next five years, Steve Hill preached up to four nights a week as the Brownsville Revival attracted over 4 million visitors. People from all over the world waited in line for hours just to get a good seat. Those of you who went there should remember the security guard repeatedly telling people on his bullhorn “single file line” as they walked into the church. The intense altar calls resulted in over 200,000 decisions for Christ. This birthed the Brownsv...

This past Monday I initially woke up just after midnight. Unable to fall back to sleep, I went online for a couple of hours. Through Facebook friends, I found out a well-known preacher went home to be with the Lord hours before. Steve Hill, best remembered as the evangelist God used to spark the Brownsville Revival, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 60 years old. Born in Ankara, Turkey to a military family but raised in Alabama, Steve Hill got caught up in a lifestyle of drugs, alcohol, and crime. On October 28, 1975, Steve’s life changed when a Lutheran minister stopped by his house. Steve got born again not by going through the Four Spiritual Laws, the Romans Road, or some other popular witnessing method. The minister simply encouraged Steve to repeatedly call on the name of Jesus and was instantly delivered from drug addiction. Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” A few weeks later, Steve was arrested due to unlawful ac...