Link to Loving Deb Smith

Way back in the beginning of the Fourth Great Awakening was a Great Revival. It began with high school and college kids and a few adults who were knocked off their religious horses on the way to personal gratification.Two that were brought into the move of the Holy Spirit during the Campus Revival at the University of Cincinnati happened to be Tom and Deb Smith. Tom grew up a few miles from me in the mighty city of Woodlawn, Illinois.

Every revival has people and groups that serve as engines of the Spirit and fires in the fireplaces of the Lord. The First Great Awakening is remebered for George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards and for powerful groups of enlivened Americans who spread the gospel until it led to the American Revolution.

The people and groups this time included Billy Graham and other famous preachers but it was mostly powered by groups of students from Campus Crusade, Inter Varsity, Young Life and Youth for Christ. It was the kids on campuses all over America who were liberated and brought spiritual liberty to millions. We saw the power of God at work; the awesome move of God through ordinary people and it changed the world.

Tom Smith came to the University of Cincinati as Campus Minister for the Christian Church and hit the ground running. I was Associate Dean of Students responsible for the Student Groups at UC so Dale Adams, adviser to the Church, brought Tom to meet me at a lunch. Before long Tom had recruited a bunch of students who were excited about the Gospel. Tom was and is a gifted evangelist. He also met a beautiful young woman named Deb who soon became his bride.

Tom and Deb lived among the students at The Carpenter's Houses. There was one for girls and one for guys. God really moved among the students as they learned the Word of God and did His works of love and grace among. God used Deb and Tom to spark a revival.

Deb, although about the same age as the students, was a house mother, friend, counselor, worship leader, Bible teacher and nurse maid. She led many a home sick kid through the pain of growing up apart from their moms.

That started about 1970 and developed into a church plant, a national church movement and an international association of Spirit empowered congregations. Deb and Tom were partners who parented three of their own children as well as hundreds of children they "adopted" from around the world.

Today Tom and Deb live on the Smith Family Farm in Ashley, Illinois. Unfortunately, Deb is very ill with cancer. If you click on the link to her blog you can read about ways you can help them now. They have emptied themselves in service to Christ and His people for almost 40 years and it is our turn to support them spiritually and financially.

Please go to Loving Deb Smith and begin to pray for a series of miracles. They have taught about the miracles of Jesus for decades so let us ask for another one right now.

Comments

I imagine most bloggers are a lot like me. They want, need and like comments. We are like politicians who only have one rule about reporters. "I don't care what you say about me if you just spell my name correctly."

I have thought and said for a long time that my main job after retirement will be to write letters to the editor as a full time business. Now that I have a blog I don't have to wait because I can write a stream of consciousness about whatever is on my mind. And, to top it all off, I get great comments from friends, neighbors and acquaintances from all over the place.

Not too long ago I received a note from Dan Gilliam [Dan@dangilliam.net] a man who was one of our youth ministers many years ago. Now he is an artist, musician, writer and free spirit in ministry. When he first wrote he was in Colorado but has moved back to the Virginia-North Carolina Border area of the mountains.

I have received notes from a lot of ministers and counselors. I suppose we are all working on similar issues. My old friend from the University of Cincinnati Jay Slaydon, is a counselor in the same region where Dan Gilliam lives. Good people tend to gather in warmly caring places, I suppose.

So, keep writing. Hit the comments button and say something; anything. Stay in touch. I need to hear from you.

What is Gary Sweeten Doing Now?

This is the question I started with because we are changing the name and focus on our ministry.

What!? Again?! What are you going to do? Can't you just be satisfied with doing the same thing for twenty years or so or is you ADD gotten so bad you are bored again?

I have been through so many ups and downs, ins and outs that my family and friends are in a continual stage of confusion. First of all, I have had positions that were unknown and new from anything my parents or friends even heard about before. After leaving my teacher's job in southern Illinois the Lord opened up a position at the University of Cincinnati. It was in Student Affairs, something TJ and Leota Sweeten had never heard of before. Karen and I lived with a new born baby, Julie, for two years in a big residence hall of upper class males.

For a couple of years UC and other many campuses were roiled by unrest, riots, threats and unlawful use of drugs. As I was the head Counselor of a 600 man residence hall my staff and I certainly had our hands full during those days of tension and easily piqued students.

The university had to close its doors twice because of violence. The bumper sticker back then could have been, "Support Peace and get out of Viet Nam or I will Kill You." I was threatened with death or severe beatings several times but the Lord watched over me. We all wore badges identifying us as good guys so the police would not bash us over the heads along with the rioters, SDS and the dopers, with night sticks. It still did not make us feel very secure.

But God was also active. We often quoted So shall they fear The name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. Isaiah 59:18-20

I had written a Master's Paper on riots in higher education so I was supposed to have been an expert on campus unrest. Man o man I was just an newbie and I learned a lot about prayer, helplessness and those who profit off of pain. The misinformation and egotism of the media who lied constantly to write a "big story" and the lies of the protesters whose motives and character were, at best, narcissistic and at worst, criminal.

But God poured out His Holy Spirit on us and brought many people to faith and healing. It was the beginning of the Fourth Great Awakening; an Awakening that is forty years into the normal 100 year cycle of Great Revivals and Awakenings. Thank God, those of us predestined by the Lord to be chosen for such a wonderful time are still feasting on His grace and marvelling at His mercy as we see how revivals and awakenings gather steam and change nations.

My new thrust is riding the waves stirred up by the Jesus Movement and the Great Awakening as God's plan continues to move along.

Pits, Prisons, Palaces, Prophesy and Prosperity

As I read my stories from past decades I am struck bu how many times I have had to face great disappointments. Anyone who reads the Bible knows that the great heroes of our faith have all faced great challenges.

I think of Joseph whose father loved him so much he doted on him to the point that the children from his other wives got so jealous they decided to sell him into slavery. They put him in a Pit after stripping him of that famous many colored coat and made a few shekels off him from the passing camel train of traders.

From that awful Pit young Joseph was transported to a Palace in Egypt where he served as a slave to a high ranking officer of the Pharaoh. Joseph did so well he ended up being the object of his master's wife's affections and after refusing her advances, went to Prison on the basis of her lies that he had tried to force her to have sex.

Joseph had not been abandoned by God, however, despite his terrible problems. As he said, "They, (the brothers) meant it for evil but God meant it for good." So, God spoke to Joseph throughout his many ups and downs, trials and triumphs. He had the ability to interpret dreams and hear God's voice so Prophesy was a great gift that continued to be placed upon him. (The gifts and call of God are forever.)

His ability to hear and follow God led to imprisonment as a result of false charges but in Prison it led to his being blessed. A fellow prisoner that had been the recipient of Joseph's Prophetic words and knowledge of dreams, remembered his friend from the Prison and suggested to the Pharaoh that Joseph might be able to understand his terrifying dreams about seven cows.

Finally, God had prepared the haughty, childish and prideful Joseph to the place where he ruled the strongest country on earth, Egypt. All those times of trials and temptations, of tests and tough events developed young Joseph into a mature leader. It is often the case that a person is not get ready to rule others until there is self-rule.

Some of my most painful and difficult times have prepared me best to serve the Lord where ever He sends me. The school of hard knocks works as the very best way to prepare us for leadership. I have been falsely accused, wrongly dismissed, painfully rejected and my "rights" stolen by people I considered to be closer than a brother or sister. My many colored coats have been torn up in front of me, my reputation tarred and feathered by those I helped most and my money taken by "friends". (IMO)

It is the Pits, Prisons and Pain that Prepare us for the Palace and Spiritual Prosperity. It is not Schoolization but Socialization that develops godliness and the fruit of the Spirit. Yes, "Knowledge puffs up while love builds up" and God is in the business of building not puffing.

The Lord has called me at this time to unleash other Seasoned Believers who have grown strong through illness, disappointment, joy and family life into the fifth and sixth decades of maturity. Most are ready to share their wisdom and love. When I was a child I thought as a child, I taught as a child and I lived as a child. Now it is time to put away childish things and liberate mature men and women to touch the world.

More on God's preparation later.

Photos from the Past

I recently discovered a few photos from the past. They will confirm the fact that I actually did teach Elementary School, including music, in Ina, Illinois, my home village of some 300 souls.

I was also a basketball coach. I actually and proudly won the "Coach of the Year Honors given by Eddie Allen's Barber Shop in Mt. Vernon. The inscription read,

"My Sin; One Win: Losing est Coach of the Year".

New Name?

I hope you will help us come up with a new name for the ministry as we go forward into the Fourth Great Awakening.

Make your nominations today.

What is Gary Up to Now!!!?

I left you at my accepting a job at the University of Cincinnati. What a blast. Karen and I moved into an upper class men's residence hall with our little six week old daughter Julia. The guys had a little sister and we had 600 men to corral.

Finding a church was difficult. They were different from the little congregations back home. But we found one way out in Dent and settled in there. We started to teach Sunday school for the College and Career Group and fell in love with the kids and their families.

I was growing in my job and taking classes on a doctorate in counseling. I discovered the power of small groups and saw the way God could use groups to train Christians to learn His word and do His works.

Through a guy named Barney Ford, Campus Director of InterVarsity Fellowship, I was invited to attend a series of training classes on Inductive Bible Study. That means we study what the Bible says and interpret it ourselves rather than have a teacher prepare a cookie cutter lesson and tell the students what it means.

These two insights were like gold to me and I immediately started to try the ideas out in tandem with our C&C group. We met in homes once each week and encouraged them to dig deeply into the passages we chose and arrive at their own conclusions. WOW! What freedom and what excitement on their parts.

Well, that did not last for long. The Church Leaders heard what we were doing and called me in for a discussion. The end result was a request for my resignation. I was hurt, mad, frustrated, sad and disbelieving. In retrospect this painful event was like the one at Mt. Vernon when I had to resign from teaching. Humiliating, humbling and infuriating but redemptive.

God meant it for good and He brought good out of it. Like Joseph in the pit. I was a better man after I got out of the hole God put me in.

More on UC next time.