Months ago during one of Mom’s visits, she noticed an odd-shaped translucent growth at the end of my nose. When she pointed it out to Loree, the two double-teamed me till I surrendered and went to our family doctor. I didn’t think much of it till he looked at it and said, “Why don’t we skip the dermatologist and go straight to the plastic surgeon?” That’s when Loree and I met Dr. Sundin.

Still, I was trying to play it down. But after his examination, Dr. Sundin actually saw three places on my face that needed to be removed and examined. He did it in his office, and we returned a few weeks later to receive the biopsy report. The two other places were fine, but the place on my nose was basal cell carcinoma – skin cancer. Dr. Sundin then explained that he would have to go back and remove the rest of the cancer. He pulled out a pen and paper and drew what he would have to do to my nose and that it may involve some reconstruction. Looking at his drawing, I said, “Doc, I’m glad you’re a better surgeon than you are an artist, because that looks more like a recliner than a nose.”

When we told our family about the cancer and the possible reconstructive surgery, they all assured me of their prayers. Loree’s sister Holli was a real encouragement. Realizing that my face was seen by about 300,000 viewers nation-wide each Sunday, she told me, “Don’t worry. There’s always radio.”

The surgery was scheduled for Thursday, August 17, and what God was about to do that day was a total surprise to me and all involved. In many ways it reminds me of what took place in Acts 2:1-6.

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

Pentecost was one of the three festivals Jews were required to attend. It was a holiday and Leviticus 23:21 and Numbers 28:26 declared that no one was to work that day. And since it took place at the first of June, the people had perfect traveling weather. Thus, the streets of Jerusalem were packed with Jews from all over the world. As only God could do, He spoke through His disciples so those there could hear God’s message in their native language. He spoke dramatically and personally to those surrounding the disciples in Jerusalem.

In a similar way, that’s what God did on August 17. He spoke dramatically and personally to all surrounding me in a surgical room. This is our account of what we experienced that day.

My Experience

I remember my anesthesiologist explaining to Loree and me that she was about to give me something that would knock me out in 20 seconds. Before she did, she told me that I may wake up a little during the course of the surgery and, if so, just tell her and she’d put me back to sleep. Then she injected my IV and I was out.

During some part of the surgery, I became conscious. I never opened my eyes, but I was conscious of the fact Dr. Sundin and others were near me, working on me. What truly had my attention, though, I can only describe as a warm, pure gold radiating from behind a golden door. In travels and pictures, you’ve probably seen royal places so covered with gold they make you want to stand back in awe. Though this gold was majestic, it had a warm loving appeal that drew me. A love overwhelmed me. It was a love for those in the room and for anyone who would hear me – and I had a passion to speak.

Honestly, I don’t remember much of what I said. I remember saying things like “God is not distant. He is near,” “Satan is a liar,” and quoting Jeremiah 29:11:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

What I remember most, however, was how clear and simple God’s message was as I shared it. And as I spoke, it was also clear that Satan is such a deceiver, and is so skilled at distracting people’s attention away from God’s clear and simple truth.

I also remember someone wiping my lips with a moist towel and hearing those in the surgical room saying “amen” and “hallelujah.” And though I didn’t want to leave the experience of what I now call “the gold place,” I found myself coming to in the recovery room.

The first one beside my bed was Dr. Gail Heppner, the anesthesiologist. Sadly, I don’t remember much of our conversation. I just remember her weeping, saying that God had spoken through me to her friends. When Dr. Heppner left, the surgical nurse, Carol Miller, stepped to the other side of my bed. Still coming out of the anesthesia, I remember her telling me of the loss of her husband and daughter and feeling distant from others and God. Weeping, she said God spoke to her. Still in awe over the experience, I asked Carol if we could pray together and we did.

Loree’s Experience

While this was happening to me in the recovery room, Loree was experiencing something different in the waiting room. Surrounded by close friends, Loree watched Dr. Sundin pace as he told Loree that they had removed the tumor from my nose and that miraculously the cancer was gone. Then, he told her that God had spoken through me to all in the surgical room. Beginning to cry, he said, “I’ll talk with you more in a little bit.” Then Connie Alphin, another attending nurse, knelt where Loree was seated and said, “God spoke through your husband to all of us. You have to tell this story.”

Loree was told that I was in recovery and could go back and see me. As she made her way back, she asked a nurse there if she could see me. The nurse said, “If you wouldn’t mind waiting a moment. He’s talking with the anesthesiologist, and I think a nurse is waiting her turn to see him.” After waiting Loree came to me and then Dr. Sundin talked to both of us.

Again he said, “We removed the tumor from your nose and miraculously there was no cancer.” At that moment God brought to my mind Joan Muse’s prayer the Sunday before. I had announced to the church that I would have cancer surgery on my nose. Joan took my hand on the way out and emphatically said she would pray that when the surgery took place the doctors would discover that the cancer was gone. In fact, Joan didn’t wait to get home to start praying for me. She grabbed my hand, with a line of people waiting to get through the door where we were standing, and began to pray. I hadn’t seen such earnestness in prayer in a long time. When she finished, I knew God had heard and answered her prayer and now Dr. Sundin had just confirmed it.

Just as he did with Loree, Dr. Sundin told me that God had spoken through me to him in the surgery room. Since talking with Loree he had gone to his office to read the Bible passages I had quoted to him under anesthesia. Once again, he became emotional and said he’d tell me more during my follow-up visit with him on Tuesday.

There’s one other insight from Loree’s experience worth mentioning. She said that as Dr. Sundin and each nurse came to her, the normal medical demeanor and protocol wasn’t important to them. They each had a glow about them and a look as though the weight of the world had just been taken from them. The fact that God had miraculously healed me of my cancer wasn’t as important as the experience that God had spoken to them.

When we arrived home, Loree and I reflected on what had just happened and knew we had to write it all down while it was fresh. In the course of journaling all this, I remember telling Loree that it broke my heart to think that God had to knock me out to speak through me. Trying to lighten the moment Loree said, “It’s alright, Mark, God even spoke through a donkey in the Old Testament.” Somehow that statement didn’t help much. Actually, I wasn’t that depressed because I had been where God had spoken.

Others’ Experiences

It wasn’t until we had subsequent visits and correspondence with Dr. Sundin, Dr. Heppner and Nurse Miller that I learned all God did and what they experienced. When I told them I felt compelled to tell my church what happened and asked permission to tell their story, they each wanted to come and share it themselves. Here is what they wrote and shared with my congregation.

Anesthesiologist, Dr. Gail Heppner
This is my testimony of the events of Thursday, August 17th. To fully tell my story I have to start the Friday prior. I was at work and two of my friends that I work with in the operating room were both very blue. Actually, “blue” isn’t quite accurate. They were both so distraught about events in their lives that they were tearful. It was hard to see them in such pain as both of these wonderful women are normally so happy. I had been praying for God to be with these women.

Connie had just had one of her best friends move away when, a few days later, learned that another dear friend was diagnosed with an advanced, very aggressive cancer that does not carry a very good prognosis. In addition, she found herself to be in a very low personal place in her life, very lonely and questioning a lot of things.

Carol, who has been dealt some absolutely terrible hands in life, is normally full of the most positive attitude – happiness and utter unselfishness. She is the first to come in and the last to leave, going beyond what is expected of her. To see her at a place where she felt at an all-time low was difficult. When she did burst into tears, I said, “Carol, what is wrong? I know you’ve had so many horrible things happen in your life, but why today? What is making you weep like this?” And, I knew she did have a lot of pain, pain from the loss of her husband on Christmas Day five years ago, and the completely unexpected loss of a daughter a year later. So, I asked her again, specifically, what was wrong, and she replied that she felt so guilty. She went on to say that she felt guilty for the way things had been between her and her daughter. But then through her tears she said, “I feel empty and used up and guilty because I have nothing left to give God.” As a Christian like Carol, it was very hard to hear that. It spoke to me very deeply of the pain she was in. And to hear this strong Christian so distraught, so broken and in pain, as she sobbed it caused me pain.

I had been praying for both of these women, but after seeing them like this on that Friday, I told Carol and Connie that my prayers alone just weren’t getting the job done! It was time to bring in the big guns! I went home and e-mailed my spiritual parents, Miguel and Trudy, for prayer assistance. In my e-mail I told them specifically what was happening in the lives of these women and I asked them for help. I told them specifically what I felt they needed from the Lord and I asked them to pray, and I knew they would.

They are an amazing couple in so many ways. In fact, about 8 years ago, after my husband and I had known them for a year or so, I remember telling him, “I want what they have.” What it took me another year to figure out was that they had spent decades committed to the Lord, seeking to know Him and living a life consistent with that knowledge. THAT was “what they had.” And unbeknownst to either my husband or me, they and their entire congregation had been praying for a year for us to come to know the Lord. So when we walked unannounced into their small (30 people) reformed church that we didn’t know existed, or know was their church, it was divine guidance and answer to prayer. The experience was as powerful a testimony of God’s grace and love to them as it was to us. To this day, they will tell you the only reason they were brought by the Navy to Cherry Point, North Carolina, was to do God’s work, which for them at that time was to bring Brent and me to the Lord.

Well, back to the story… I returned to work Monday and told my friends that I had put my prayer request for them into others’ hands. I told them about Miguel and Trudy and said that I knew they were praying and others would join, especially after their Wednesday night prayer meeting. And with that, nothing more was spoken.

After being off work Wednesday, I returned to work Thursday, August 17th. That morning while dressing I chose to wear a rather large cross necklace that I usually refrain from wearing to work – that morning I just put it on.

As I got ready for my first case of the day at work, one of the staff informed me that my first patient was a pastor, Dr. Mark Becton. I thanked them but carried on as usual. As I did my pre-op, I didn’t bring up the fact that he was a pastor or the fact that I was a Christian. I felt he needed to be “off duty” and just be the patient, and I needed to address him as I would any other patient. After I had finished explaining how the anesthetic would proceed, I sedated him with a fairly standard dose of medication. He responded with a bit more than the typical degree of sedation – he was fairly obtunded. In fact, when we got into the operating room, we had to really help him move from the stretcher to the OR table. Of note was the fact that I was able to give him as much medication throughout the procedure as I give most people for similar procedures, despite his initial response.

Having said that, you can imagine my great surprise when, during the case, I heard him talking very quietly while Dr. Sundin was working. I was also quite surprised to see that whatever he was saying had grabbed both Carol’s and Dr. Sundin’s complete attention. In fact, I heard them both quietly say, “Amen.” He was speaking so quietly that Connie turned off the music and the suction machine. After hearing him say, “Our Lord, Jesus Christ,” I even turned off the audibles on my monitors, something I never do. My first thought was the obvious one – he is a pastor so he is either praying or preaching. It seemed logical. But then I realized that he was so sedated that he couldn’t possibly be speaking this clearly and articulately, and with such emotion. His brows would furrow with intensity as he spoke. Then I started to FEEL that this was something far more than a man preaching or even praying. How do I explain it? I suppose when the Holy Spirit is in the room speaking through the mouth of a man – a man of God, in fact, a man that would make the perfect vehicle for the words to flow more easily through, you just know it. We all knew it, without speaking a word to one another.

Usually the OR receives calls from the clinic 2-3 times during the course of a case – during this case, there were none. The room had no interruptions of any kind and was as quiet as I’ve ever heard an OR. The only sound came from the mouth of Dr. Becton as the Holy Spirit spoke to us through him. I didn’t realize it then, but he spoke to Dr. Sundin first. Burt knew it immediately, although the rest of us didn’t. We hadn’t even known he was a Christian or that he had been suffering. But whatever he had heard was deeply personal and he was clearly affected. All the while, the way Dr. Becton was lying – the same way I’d seen a thousand other patients lay – became moving. He was supine with his arms out on the arm boards, like on a cross, as patients have likened it on more than one occasion. His lips suddenly became extremely dry and Carol started dabbing them with saline-soaked gauze to moisten them. He never stopped speaking or even acknowledged the kind gesture, as a fairly coherent, polite man would. The physical scene had a profound effect on me.

He continued to speak, some of it too quiet for my ears. But then I clearly heard Him say, “I know there are Christians in the room in pain. Some feel empty and used up, guilty because they feel they have nothing left to give their Father.” At this point I can’t describe how I felt. This was word-for-word what Carol had said to me and Connie the Friday before. When I heard that I nearly started crying then and there (although I managed to save that until a bit later!). He said that God wants us to know Him and said the devil is a liar and wants to deceive us.

He assured us that our prayers are heard and that God has a plan for us – a plan that gives us hope and a future. He kept telling us that “God hears your prayers” and said that “He is near.” “He is near.” As He spoke there was urgency in His voice as He said “Time is short, others must come; time is short, others must come.” And He told us to tell others, that they must come to know the Lord. So I am.

Christ has been a big part of my life since high school. Then after backsliding a bit through the years of my education, I was brought back to the Lord along with my new husband, Brent, as I mentioned at the start of this testimony. But this rebirth has given me knowledge of my loving Creator like nothing I have ever known in the past. I can only describe it as peace.

In fact, after this happened I called Trudy and Miguel to share with them this amazing testimony. During our conversation I asked them, “What specifically did you pray?” They said that immediately after reading my prayer request, they joined hands and prayed. Despite the specific things I had asked them to pray for, they felt they should only pray for one thing, and that was for peace. They prayed, “Lord, give these women peace that they can only know through the grace of God.” And that is exactly what the four of us received.

I would always pray, but I suppose I would struggle from time to time with feeling “is He really hearing me literally?” But when you hear the Holy Spirit actually tell you that He hears your prayers and that He loves you, it is like hearing it from someone standing next to you! Now I know what the Bible means when it says that God is a personal God and that He wants a personal relationship with you. He does hear you – every last thing that comes out of your mouth. And despite all of our faults (we sin because we’re sinners, not vice versa), God still loves us and chose to make the ultimate sacrifice for us in the name of love. So I know that I have to use this experience – this gift, for it was no mistake that I was one of the four people present, to help others come to know our Father. Now I pray that God will give me the wisdom to know how and when to use it.

Surgeon, Dr. Burton Sundin
Like Gail, before I give you my account of what happened on August 17, I have to preface it with an account of the events of the day before. August 16th was a terrible day for me. It was a day where the work which I had to do seemed endless, disease seemed to be winning its battle against me, and it seemed as if patients were unhappy and my life was in a total turmoil. On that day, spiritual warfare was taking an active role in my life.

I had been obedient to God and I had sought Him. I had prayed on a daily basis, I was tithing and had a really intense relationship with God. But on that day the trappings of the world seemed to overwhelm me. It was like the toil of my life was upon me as I left the office that day. I said to myself that I cannot believe that this is where my life has come. I cannot believe so much chaos is in my life, that 14 years of sacrifice in my life has led me to this. I cried out to the Lord and said, “God, how have you brought me to this place?” I went home that night, and my wife could hardly console me, and I continued to cry out to the Lord that night. We have all been in that place at one point or another and we cry out to God, and He wants to hear us.

The next day I awoke and prayed, and things were better. I prayed to God and I felt He wanted me to be brave and courageous, to forget the day before and to move on with Dr. Becton’s surgery. I knew I had to be there for him, but deep in my heart was still the heaviness of what I have told you about, this unspecified turmoil which was bothering me. This was all in the setting of trying to make ends meet as a new surgeon, as well as a huge examination that is pending, and the pressures of being there for my patients and my staff.

On August 17, I went into the operating room where Dr. Becton had been put under anesthesia, but as you have heard, he spoke. But it was the Holy Spirit that spoke through him that day. It was very powerful and very intense and very deliberate. At first it was quiet, but then there was a message. He said to me, “Dr. Sundin, God has given you many gifts. They are His gifts, and He wants to use them, through you, for Him. He has chosen you specifically to be His servant and He wants to use you.” He then quoted Jeremiah 29:11, 14: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future… and to deliver you from captivity.’” And that is the way I felt that day – captive. When I heard that, it instantly spoke to me. He continued and said, “God has such plans for you.” Then he quoted Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

We finished Dr. Becton’s case in awe and silence, and left the room not being able to speak. Each of us had felt the supernatural presence in that room, as if the Holy Spirit had fired through that room. I went into the bathroom and wept, but it was a good weeping, not of sadness but the awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit within you. I was still weeping as I told Loree of the experience and later Dr. Becton as he came out of the anesthesia.

The verses Dr. Becton quoted have great significance to me. A couple of months ago I was having a conversation with my mother, who is also a born-again Christian, and relating to her the anxieties I was experiencing. She told me about a Bible study she had attended where they had discussed God’s name for you. God has a name for each of us, and if you ask Him, He will give it. At that moment, the Holy Spirit came through me and I knew my name. It was “Prosperous.” While talking with her, I was on the way to the hospital and had the radio tuned to “Calvary Chapel.” During the sermon I was listening to, Psalm 1 (verses 1-3) was quoted.

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

There were other times during that day when the word “prosper” was delivered to me. But as I heard Dr. Becton utter a biblical quotation including the word “prosper”, I knew that the Lord was speaking to me right then.

There is a message in this. God is the great comforter. He will take away the pain of your life. The Holy Spirit is a gift from God, and you just have to ask for Him to come into your life. He has a message for you, and He wants to be in the lives of each of you on a deeply, personal basis. He made great effort to come to each one of us that day so that we could spread this message.

The third thing that I would like to say is that time is short, and the times we are living in are very uncertain. It is time for everyone, if you are a Christian, to share the message with your friends and with your family. It is time for us to use this story – and it is your story, it is our story. Take what I have told you today and tell people. As I have shared this story, people have asked me what I believe about God. The story has moved them, and their life will be changed.

Nurse, Carol Miller
August 11, 2006, was a bad day for me. My heart was so full of pain and it felt unbearable. All I wanted to do was die. I am a Christian and love Christ but I felt I had nothing left to give Jesus or give anyone else. I felt my heart was empty and dried up. My life had no purpose. I wanted to give my life to someone that wanted to live – not the unbearable part, but my health. I was dead inside.

I lost my husband Christmas night 2001 to lung cancer. On December 12, 2002, our daughter died, just one year after we were told my husband had cancer. God has gotten me through both of my losses, but Satan knows my mind is weak and that is where he works on me. On August 17, 2006, Jesus came to work!

I knew our patient was a pastor. He didn’t know me and I had never met him. While we were waiting for his pathology report to come back, he started to talk with Dr. Sundin about Bible verses and God sending him to Dr. Sundin. I could feel the Holy Spirit in the room; you could have heard a pin drop. The phone, which always rings off the hook, never rang. No one came to the door. As he spoke to Dr. Sundin, I listened. He actually said a prayer, and I said, “Amen.” I could feel the Holy Spirit in the room. He started to repeat the same words that I had voiced to my good friends in Christ on the Friday before. I thought, “Lord, how can he know this? I have never talked to him before.” His eyes were covered with a cool cloth and he was speaking so softly, and all I could see were his lips moving. To me they appeared to be the lips of Christ, our Saviour. He spoke, clearly and softly, that God had a purpose for me and for everyone in that room.

I dabbed his lips with a saline sponge because he licked his lips that appeared to be dry. All I could think was that I was moistening the lips of Christ, as the Holy Spirit spoke through Bro. Mark to me and all who were in that room. God was letting me know that He could come to work where we were. He was telling us that He was there, that time was short, and that Jesus was near. That He loved us with all of His might and all of His power, and His power is the greatest power. Jesus is the head of our lives. He loves us and He can come when we least expect it.

As I shared the experience with a friend later that day, I realized the pain that had weighed so heavily on me was gone. I give the glory to God for coming to work that day and allowing Jesus to tell us that He is here, waiting for us to reach out to Him and ask. It is a free gift of joy and peace that I want you to have.

Glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Lessons Learned

This has been an awakening for me in many ways. Because of this experience there are several lessons I’ve learned and never want to forget.

LESSON #1
“God Reveals Himself Through
Faithfulness, not Formulas”

Since seminary I have been praying to experience revival in ways recorded in history. I’ve lead churches in “Round the Clock” prayer vigils, “100 Days of Prayer,” “Home Prayer Meetings” and “Prayer Walking” the community and church. I’ve invited godly and gifted speakers to come to the churches I’ve served. I planed and prepared everything well expecting to experience Habakkuk 3:2“… I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known.” I just knew that during some time at church, God would take over and real revival would come.

Yet, this experience has affirmed what my Evangelism Professor Dr. Roy Fish once told us. “Real revival comes only when God chooses.” It’s not about perfecting the right formula. It’s about being faithful. Just be faithful at being and doing all God wants, and when God wants, He will pour out revival. Furthermore, He will do it in a way that points to Him and affects the most – like speaking through a Baptist to an Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and an Assembly of God in a surgical room so that each knew it was God!

LESSON #2
“God’s Truth and Way are
Loving, Simple and Clear”

Jesus said, in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Sensing the presence of God so close and having Him speak through me so clearly reminded me of how loving, simple and clear God’s truth and way are. All of us in that room had stepped in with so many pressures from life, but emerged with such peace. Our perspective of life had changed because God spoke and what he said was personal, clear and simple.

I have to confess that it doesn’t take long for the expectations of others and the demands of life to try to over take you. In fact, I told Loree just a few days after the experience, “I want to go back to the gold place.” Yet my prayer is and will remain, “Lord, let me not forget that your truth and way are loving, simple, and clear.”

LESSON #3
“Satan is Still a Liar”

Loree later told me that in recovery, I’d often say something silly like, “Loree, I’m going to take you car shopping.” Loree hates car shopping. Then suddenly I’d become serious and tell her, “Satan is such a liar.”

Remembering the loving, simple and clear truths of God, I couldn’t help but see how Satan has hidden them in his lies. Describing Satan in John 8:44, Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

His lies distract us and deceive us. They keep us so busy chasing dreams that aren’t God’s and establishing priorities and pursing agendas that aren’t His that we can no longer see God’s truth or way when it’s before us.

A week after the surgery Loree and I were eating lunch at a restaurant. I looked at those there through the glasses of my experience. I knew they felt they had to have the latest technology, reach a certain income, support specific causes, and get married or not, in order to truly be fulfilled. Yet Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Satan is that thief and with his lies he keeps us busy, distracted and deceived. Thus he steals, kills and destroys the very life God has planned for you.

LESSON #4
“Prayer is Still the Key”

The more I talked with all involved in this experience the word “prayer” continues to surface. Dr. Heppner had asked her friends to pray for those she worked with. I learned from a note I received from a church member that a group of women in our church had been praying for my surgery, and they had asked another group at West End Assembly of God to pray as well. Then, I learned that Cissy Christopher’s husband had been prayer walking through the office complex of the surgeons. Cissy is the surgical scheduler and her husband, during off-hours, had walked into each room praying for all in the office. Finally, God brought to mind all the years I had fasted and prayed for revival, and the years this church has held its monthly revival prayer meeting.

Though I mentioned earlier that God responds to faithfulness, not formulas, I’ve learned that it’s important to be faithful in prayer. For when many are faithful in prayer God will answer. He may not answer when we want or in the way we expect, but He will answer in the way that points to Him the most. Besides, God does promise in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

LESSON #5
“Share the Story and
Leave the Results to God”

I’m sure God has more lessons to teach me through this, but this is the last I’ll mention. I’ve learned that when someone experiences God this way, their desire is to share their story and then leave the results up to God. Acts 4:31 describes it this way, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

Everyone associated with this experience wants to share it. Beyond that, we feel an obligation to God to share it. As we have shared it, this is what we have learned. First, there’s always a response. Some cry and others smile with amazement. It usually stirs the faith of those who have a relationship with Christ, or creates a sense of awe in the lives of those who do not. Second, the story has a life of its own. In just three weeks, I’ve already heard of it spreading through Loree’s hometown of Elk City, Oklahoma, and it’s even reached as far as Maine.

A week ago, I preached a revival at Piedmont Baptist Church in Amelia County, Virginia. Before our first service, the pastor and I prayed together. After praying, Pastor Nick said, “Mark, why don’t you tell your story?” I didn’t know how he had heard about it. Then I learned he heard about it from a fellow pastor who heard about it from Bob Solomon, the manager of LifeWay Christian Store. Bob is a member of our church that had I told.

I told Pastor Nick it may take a while to tell the story. He answered, “We have time.” During the song service I prayed, telling God, “I can’t tell the story. I haven’t prepared what to say or how to say it.” Then God said to my heart, “Mark, you weren’t prepared the first time.” With that, I told the story instead of preaching the sermon. That night Pastor Nick and a dear deacon rededicated their lives to God. The church was packed each night as people sincerely recommitted their lives to Christ. The last night of the service a man they have loved and prayed for across many years surrendered his life to Christ.

I have no plans or preconceived ideas of how people will respond when hearing this story. I just have an obligation to God to tell it and will leave the results up to Him.