BrianIngraham.com | ASPIRE

Just over a week ago I found myself sitting in an old church building in Scotland listening to young men honing their teaching skills.  The weekend was called “Simply Holy Spirit.”  A weekend of teaching our people some of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, some about spiritual gifts, and some about the fruit of the Spirit.

Todd Weller put together the vast majority of the content and coordinated the teaching effort.  There were two focuses for the weekend.  First, to teach our people about the Holy Spirit.  Second, to train and give opportunities for young people to explore teaching or worship leading gifts.

Our church is both a church and a mission.  Although we are clearly a local church, which gathers weekly to worship and learn and spur one another on towards love and good deeds, we are not just a local church.  We are also a mission to Glasgow and to Scotland.   What I saw in these young teachers made me smile, knowing God is rising up a new generation of preachers who have the potential of seeing thousands return to believing in Jesus Christ, convinced that God is who the bible says he is, and certain that God will do everything he says he will do.

The future is looking a bit brighter.

At church last night we had a ton of visitors. Our largest service ever. It was the first time we have ever run out of chairs and needed to use the balcony.  I digress…

Sometimes, after working with the church week after week, year after year, I start to take a few things for granted. But last night, one of our visitors, a gray-haired really old man made a comment that reminded me of how unique our situation is.

He said, “I haven’t seen this many young men in Scotland excited about their faith since a tent meeting in the 50’s”

A simple comment packed with encouragement.

I was laughing on the inside yesterday. First of all, it was mothers day here in Scotland. Secondly, we had many visitors at church because we were doing some baptisms. Thirdly, our passage for the week was God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. You try tying baptism and mothers day into a message on Sodom and Gomorrah and see if it doesn’t send you laughing on the inside. (if you want to hear the message click HERE.)

Even though it seems like a terrible idea, God moved.

My favorite part was baptizing 6 people (three in the morning and three in the evening.) I always find it so powerful when we baptize people. I look each one in the eyes and ask them if they have dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ. I look them in the eyes and ask them if they are going to follow Jesus NO MATTER WHAT all the days of their lives. Each of them answered unswervingly, “Yes.”

It is powerful to see changed lives. It is amazing to hear what God is doing in their lives. And it is an honour to be apart of what God is doing in them. May God continue this good work that he has begun in them and carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

What a great day!

(photo by Megan Ansdell)
I have been asking for so much prayer for the ReAwakening conference that happened last weekend and I am acutely aware that a ‘report’ is past due… in short: It was AMAZING.

Friday evening Andy Ashworth lead worship and I spoke on “Beginning ReAwakening”  It was a call to REMEMBER how the Church of Jesus Christ was supposed to be like.  It was a call to REPENT over the situation in our nation.  It was a call to RETURN and DO the things that were done rightly at first.

During that evening I became powerfully struck that the reawakening of Scotland has already begun.  It may be unseen at the moment, but already some in Scotland are waking up and a fire has been kindled in hearts.  The question is no longer will reawakening come to Scotland, but how brightly will it burn.

Saturday, Richard Spriggs and the West End Vineyard worship team lead us in musical worship while Hugh Halter, author of “The Tangible Kingdom” spoke.  I really appreciated his emphasis on incarnating (living) our message (what we preach).

In the afternoon Neil Glover was phenomenal in his bible overview seminar.  Dan Peterson’s prayer seminar was inspiring.  Hugh Halter fielded a Q&A from his message as well as expounded on some further concepts from his book.

Saturday evening Richard lead us in worship and I spoke a message entitled “ALL IN” where I discussed the reawakening of Ephesus in Acts 19 and called people to dedicate themselves to love-driven obedience–anytime, anyplace, any cost.

I don’t feel I have an accurate grasp on how the conference went.  With speaking and preparing, I felt my ability to assess was greatly diminished at the time.  I have now been hearing stories of striking encounters with God and ‘wake-up’ moments throughout the weekend.  I am curious to see what the fruit will be in a couple weeks.

A bonus from this weekend was to partner with different church leaders from denominations in the city.   After meeting guys like Richard, Neil, Dave, and others I was encouraged by the calibre of people God seems to be rising up in this land.

The team who put this conference together did an organized and effective job.  I was quite impressed with the quality of the conference.    Andy Ashworth, Leah Aston, and Kirsty MacIntyre spearheaded a great team and a huge undertaking.

May God use this weekend to continue the reawakening work which he as begun in Scotland.

Most of the messages will be available for free download on the ReAwakening website later this week.  www.re-awakening.org.uk.

I have been quite swamped this past month with preparations for the ReAwakening conference.

The conference is THIS WEEKEND and I would really appreciate the extra prayers. I will be speaking at the main session on both Friday and Saturday nights, as well as speaking twice for church on Sunday.

Pray for Energy, Focus, Clarity, Health, Joy, but most of all that the Spirit of God would move in powerful ways in the deep places of peoples hearts.

Thanks for praying.

This is the latest promo video for the upcoming ReAwakening conference in February. To sign up you can check out www.re-awakening.org.uk for more details.

Revival is a word I am attempting to stay away from these days. It has become tainted.

Conversion is a word I am attempting to stay away from these days. It, too, carries a loaded connotation.

Every part of me wants to see a reviving. Every part of me wants to see people dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ. The word I am using these days is “Awakening.” The awakening of people far from God to come to Christ and the awakening of people who gave their lives to Jesus but have lost the fire they once had.

As I have been thinking about these concepts I was pointed to a fantastic post by a pentecostal named Chuck Fisher discussing REAL Revival… what REAL awakenings look like.

It is well worth a quick read HERE.

Near the end of his brief article he quotes an 1906 “prophecy” made at the Azusa St. Revival.

IN THE LAST DAY THREE THINGS WILL HAPPEN IN THE GREAT PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT:

1) THERE WILL BE AN OVEREMPHASIS ON POWER, RATHER THAN ON RIGHTEOUSNESS;
2) THERE WILL BE AN OVEREMPHASIS ON PRAISE, TO A GOD THEY NO LONGER PRAY TO;
3) THERE WILL BE AN OVEREMPHASIS ON THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT, RATHER THAN ON THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST.

I have been chewing on the reality of these lines for weeks now. Who can read these words and not instantly evaluate their own life, ministry, or church’s emphasis? It is so easy to destroy good things by making great things the main things.

I want to pray and work to see a reawakening in Scotland, I am sure you want to see the same where you are. Lets just quickly remind ourselves to keep the main things the main things.

If you live anywhere in or near Scotland, join us in Glasgow on the 20th and 21st of February for the ReAwakening Conference and help begin to put into place core foundations with the hope of someday seeing a ReAwakening in our land.