Posted on Tuesday 25 May 2010
A Special Word from Gene Wolfenbarger
received by God early Monday Morning, May 24th, passed on to you this evening.
To our CONGREGATION, our COUNTY, our COUNTRY,
November 18, 1999 the Spirit of the Lord awakened me in the middle of the night. He made it Crystal Clear to me. I was to move my family 856 miles from Dallas, Texas to Sevierville, Tennessee and start a church that HE NAMED The Gathering (www.thegatheringfamily.com). I have always known that HE NAMED this church and I did not. Be careful with what you name and what HE names. A name tells us a lot about someone. In the Jewish culture, the meaning of a name is a very important part of a person’s IDENTITY. Our identity at The Gathering will always be PRAYER.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel will again live in their own land, the land I gave my servant Jacob. For I will gather them from the distant lands where I have scattered them. I will reveal to the nations of the world my holiness among my people. Ezekiel 28:25
“For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them. Matthew 18:20
These verses speak in reference to PRAYER and ANSWERED PRAYER. For 9 years, I have known a Mantle has been passed down to The Gathering that we would be a PRAYING CHURCH with a TREMENDOUS ANOINTING in the AREA of PRAYER. Many of you know for the last several weeks on Wednesday Nights The Lord instructed me to call our church to corporate PRAYER. I began telling our people that the crowds come on Sunday, but the Church comes on Wednesday. On Wednesday Nights the CROWDS are GROWING every single week. This past Wednesday Night we had ONE of our LARGEST crowds come for PRAYER. I tell our people weekly, we come to church on Sunday to WORSHIP but we come to church on Wednesday for PRAYER.
Something interesting has been happening, but something great took place here on SUNDAY…
This Week we invited Dr. Tim Lee (www.timlee.org) to speak at The GATHERING. We were corporately PRAYING for 50 people to be saved. Dr. Lee preached Sunday Morning on the “GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT”. He told our church two statements that all the men on Sunday NIGHT said had DEEPLY CONVICTED THEM…
“There is nothing WORSE than BEING LOST, except BEING LOST and NO ONE LOOKING for YOU.” Dr. Tim Lee
“There is NO HOPE IN HELL.” Dr. Tim Lee
Sunday morning we saw EXACTLY 50 people SAVED. God showed up this past Sunday. However, LITTLE DID I KNOW that HEAVEN would OPEN UP ON THE GATHERING hours later during our MIGHTY MEN meeting. It all started when Chuck Laney, the individual who built our facility, became HONEST before God and our men. I sensed how BROKEN this man had truly become.
Dr. Lee began to speak on the twelve spies that would enter the Promised Land in the Book of Numbers. You know the story. Ten doubted. Two did not. All twelve names are listed in the Word of God, but only two are remembered today-Joshua and Caleb. I could sense the Holy Spirit in the room. I began to feel the tangible presence of a Holy God.
Earlier that morning at the 11:30 a.m. service, God told me we would begin to write the names of LOST PEOPLE, those FAR from God, with PERMANENT MARKERS on our SANCTUARY WALLS. God has also made it crystal clear to me that names have made a PERMANENT PLACE on the heart of our Lord. God has not forgotten the names of every lost man, woman, boy and girl. God loves lost people. I called the LEADERS of our church forward on Sunday night and asked these men to write the NAMES of PEOPLE with BLACK PERMANENT MARKERS on the SANCTUARY WALLS of our recently dedicated $15 million dollar facility. Grown men started WEEPING out LOUD. I looked around at men on our Finance Team, at some Elders (that we are about to make PUBLIC.) These Men were PROSTRATE on the FLOOR WAILING before God. CHURCH, it’s happening…
Let me take a moment and ask you 10 Vital Questions:
QUESTION: If God has allowed us to see over 350 people saved since EASTER, could we see 3,500 SAVED by the END of this YEAR?
ANSWER: In the Book of Acts – they did.
QUESTION: If God has allowed us to baptize 70 people since January, could we see 700 people baptized by the end of this YEAR?
ANSWER: In the Book of Acts – they did.
QUESTION: Are there 3,500 PEOPLE in this County that NEED the LORD?
ANSWER: YES
QUESTION: Are there 35,0000 PEOPLE in this County that Are FAR FROM GOD?
ANSWER: YES
QUESTION: Are there 350,000 PEOPLE in NEED of a SAVIOR tonight in AMERICA?
ANSWER: YES
QUESTION: Are PEOPLE more IMPORTANT to us than the PAINT on the WALLS in OUR SANCTUARY?
ANSWER: YES
QUESTION: Have We Worshiped our Buildings more than we have WELCOMED the LOST?
ANSWER: YES
QUESTION: Are we so concerned about OUR FEELINGS being HURT that we NEED to take another trip BACK to CALVARY and see HOW badly our SAVIOR was HURT for us and for others?
ANSWER: YES
QUESTION: Is it REALLY about you, me, or them?
ANSWER: THEM
QUESTION: Who are “THEM”?
ANSWER: Every Man, Woman, Boy and Girl on a Runaway Train headed toward a DEVIL’S Hell with NO HOPE.
Last Night, while I was in our BEAUTIFUL building God has GIVEN us, I saw men WIPED OUT by GOD’S PRESENCE…
When Kirk Nowery, COO of Samaritan’s Purse, spoke at The Gathering several weeks ago, I saw what GOD can do through PEOPLE PRAYING on WEDNESDAY NIGHTS.
When Dr Tim Lee was with us this past SUNDAY, I realized AGAIN that if we PRAY ON WEDNESDAY, GOD’S PRESENCE ABIDES on SUNDAY.
Here’s what God is teaching me – PRAYER gives birth to a STORY. It was PRAYER that gave birth to the greatest story ever told. For 4,000 years the Jewish People Cried Out for a Messiah.
My Story:
There is so much that I could tell you about the story of my life. I could tell you about you my Salvation. I could tell you about my CALLING. I could tell you about the Dream and the Vision that God has given me. But let me pick up on my story starting last night.
I’m sure all the men in attendance last night could tell you what God did in them. But in the midst of the PRESENCE of GOD last night, God began to break me down. I began to weep UNCONTROLLABLY at the ALTAR.
The Bible said in the Book of Joel,
“Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you PRIESTS! Wail, you who serve before the altar! Come, spend the night in burlap, you MINISTERS of my God. For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of your God.”
Joel 1:13
While praying at the Altar, I started sensing the HOLY SPIRIT tell me, “Gene, YOU WILL NEED to INVITE Dr. Tim Lee back. I’m not DONE with this MEETING.” Dr. Tim Lee had a previous commitment to a “God and Country Rally” the following day.
It was at this moment I pulled Dr Lee over to tell him privately, “Tim, God said that He is not through with OUR CHURCH, OUR COUNTY and OUR COUNTRY.” Knowing Tim Lee has PREACHED revivals all over our LAND for almost 4 DECADES, Knowing this man gave his TWO LEGS for our COUNTRY and has given HIS LIFE to the local CHURCH, I asked Dr. Lee if he would be willing to come back on Tuesday and Wednesday NIGHT at 7 p.m. because our church is STANDING on the THRESHOLD of one of the greatest PRAYER revivals in the last days. It was at that moment that Dr. Lee said to our MEN, “Every great MEETING he has been in, Man did not PLAN, but GOD PLANNED IT.“ And GOD would have ordained this PRAYER revival for such a time as this.
TO ALL THOSE who LOVE THE GATHERING, “WE did NOT PLAN this — GOD has PLANNED this.”
I will be there tomorrow night expecting God to move among HIS PEOPLE. I’m calling our people to miss ONE MEAL a day. I’m asking all of our PEOPLE to READ the BOOK of JOEL. I’m asking you to take VACATION days. He carried a cross, surely you can take a vacation day. I’m also asking YOU to leave work early and come to PRAYER. I’m asking you to REARRANGE YOUR schedule. Let’s Make the KINGDOM of GOD our PRIMARY CONCERN.
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
Matthew 6:33
I’m asking you to send this to every pastor in our County and our Country. Let them know that Heaven has started a PRAYER revival at a church called THE GATHERING in the mountains of East Tennessee. I’m asking you to send this email tonight and tomorrow to at least 25 people. I’m asking you to stay in touch with current updates at www.genewolfenbarger.com. We are in the process of securing our website (www.PRAYERrevival.tv) as we write this. (This site will begin to tell the miracle stories of people of PRAYER.)
I’m ASKING you to COME TO PRAYER on TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY OF THIS WEEK and hear Dr. Tim Lee share a word from God.
CHRISTIAN, we are LIVING IN THE LAST days. The church will NOT BE MARKED by PURPOSE in the LAST DAYS. It will BE MARKED by POWER… HIS POWER and ONLY HIS POWER …
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the POWER OF GOD for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16 NIV
I wish I could finish my story. It started July 21, 1963, but He’s still writing it.
Your Story… it began on your date of your birth.
God is about to OPEN a NEW CHAPTER in YOUR LIFE, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR CHURCH, YOUR COUNTY and YOUR COUNTRY. One that is so BIG and so great, but it begins with corporate PRAYER. He stands ready to write your story. I’m asking you to come to PRAYER and come with a burden for someone that is FAR, FAR, FAR from God. WE are opening our building for our CONGREGATION, for our COUNTY and eventually our COUNTRY. God has made it clear to me that it will start with our congregations, that it would spread to our counties and it would sanctify our country.
Jesus said,
“My HOUSE shall be called a HOUSE of PRAYER…”
Isaiah 56:7
As a minister of the gospel, I am begging you to come early to this PRAYER revival to write people’s names with a PERMANENT MARKER on our PAINT in HIS SANCTUARY. I am believing the sons and daughters of our congregation, our county and our country are going to be gloriously saved. I am believing that Marriages are going to be healed and children set free. I am believing the sick will be made whole. Are you tired of playing church? Then let us be the church.
God ALMIGHTY wants to write YOUR STORY. Your Story is ONLY GOING to BE BIRTHED through PRAYER. We have put too much emphasis on the word revival and not enough emphasis on the word PRAYER. PRAYER precedes revival.
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and PRAY and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” 2 CHRONICLES 7:14
God did not complicate things. God did not want you to figure things out. God did not want you to analyze things. God wants you to PRAY. We’ve done everything and tried everything. It is time to PRAY with God’s people.
Our PRAYER CLOSETS are needed, but how much more could God do if the PRAYER CLOSET and the PRAYING CHURCH walked hand in hand?
Two Questions as I close:
Do you have an unanswered PRAYER?
Will the answer come from Individual PRAYER or Corporate PRAYER?
Pastor Gene Wolfenbarger
