With A Little Help From My Friends

Over the years I have met many wonderful people and several snakes in the grass. Mature Christians seem to know intuitively how to separat the wheat from the chaff and develop deep relationships and friendships with the good guys but stay away from the bad guys.

In 1983 the lord took me to Kenya to a conference. There I met people from all over the planet. Every one of them was leading spiritual revivals and renewals. Men and women from Africa, India, Egypt, Argentina, Singapore, etc gathered to share God’s wisdom about spiritual leadership issues. We discovered that most did not "lead anything" but simply responded to the new wine of the Holy Spirit when He showed up.

Several of these folks had amazing stories. I will relate them over the next weeks. There was one man whose friendship has changed my life. Jens-Petter Jorgenson, from Oslo, Norway stayed just a few feet down the hallway from me and we got well acquainted during the week of meetings held at a Southern Baptist seminary.

One morning Jens-Petter came to breakfast and said something like, “God spoke to me last night and said you were His man for reviving Norway. You must come to Norway and help us integrate evangelism, healing, teaching and psychology.”

I fell back as if a rattler had struck at me because I was overwhelmed with that kind of grandiose charge. Later, however, God whispered that I must go to that northern land and see what He would do. Since thatmeeting in Kenya I have traveled to Norway, Sweden and Denmark on many occasions and have come to love the people there dearly. Over the years we spoke with five or six people in a small group to over 7,000 at the summer OASE Conferences. In almost every instance my trips came from the influence of this gentle and humorous man from southern Norway.

Jens-Petter and 5000 friends just finished celebrating the 25th anniversary of OASE, the Renewal and Revival Network of Scandinavia. He was introduced as “Mr. Revival” and delivered the keynote address. Jens-Petter is also a seminary professor, a pastor, a representative of the Willow Creek Association and an internationally renowned speaker and writer. He has served as a representative of the Norwegian government in South Africa, an official writer for Promise Keepers, the principal speaker at major conferences in many lands.

You are invited to meet with Jens-Petter for an informal lunch this Friday, August 5 at 11:30 at the Life Way Center. Come with questions about renewal, revival, God’s current move in the world, etc.

We will provide pizza and drinks for those who sign up. Go to www.lifewaycenters.com or call me for directions.

Shalom,

Gary Sweeten

Cell Number 300-5065