The Consuming Fire/Catch the Fire Conference. Worshiping in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit
Encouraged by my friend Steve, Judy and I attended the Consuming Fire Conference put on by Catch the Fire USA in Durham, North Carolina, Thursday, April 12 through Saturday, April 14, 2018.
(Catch the Fire is a church planting and revival movement that grew out of the 1994 Toronto Blessing that lasted 12 years in Toronto, Canada. See http://www.johnandcarol.org/updates/the-toronto-blessing-what-is-it for a description of the early history of this move of God).
Wow!! What a powerful experience. In this post I share some of the conference highlights for Judy and me. First, I’ll share the list of speakers with some links to descriptions of who they are. Next, I’ll share the main messages, as I heard them. Finally, I’ll share some of the more memorable and notable quotes from some of the speakers.
Speakers and Conference Schedule
The conference began at 7:00 pm on Thursday evening and that night lasted till around 10:00 pm. Friday and Saturday had three sessions –session 1 from 9 till 12:30; session 2 from 2 till 5; and session 3 from 7 till about 10:00 or 10:30. Each session began with worship followed by a speaker for that session.
On Thursday night the speaker was Seth Fawcett from New Zealand. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyfQgoAgqk0).
On Friday, Duncan Smith was the speaker for session 1. (http://catchthefire.com/media/profiles/duncan-kate-smith)
On Friday, Kristen Williams was the speaker for session 2. He is also from New Zealand.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsblvyT4a8 This is a long You Tube video that gives an idea of how Kristen preached at the conference.)
The third speaker on Friday was Rolland Baker, the husband of Heidi Baker. Rolland and Heidi Baker are the founders of IRIS International. A quick scan of You Tube videos will pull up quite a bit of criticism of both of them. Some of the criticisms use words like ‘demonic’ or ‘heresy’. The primary message they both taught was “love the Lord, your God, with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength” as the ‘way’ to a deeper relationship with Christ, who is the center and substance of every part of our lives. Nothing weird or demonic. By the way, their ministry has saved thousands of children, brought hundreds of thousands to faith in Jesus Christ, has fed many hundreds of thousands of people around the world, but primarily in Africa; planted (they claim) over 10,000 churches, and raised up pastors in their Bible schools.
I am not sure where the criticisms are coming from, but from what I heard at the conference, Rolland and Heidi are doing powerful Kingdom work all over the world. Here is a link to Rolland’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DrRollandBaker/).
Saturday’s session 1 speaker was Kristen Williams, followed by Seth Fawcett in session 2. The climax of the conference for many people was Heidi Baker, the speaker for session three, closing out the conference. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page about Heidi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Baker) and her ministry IRIS International (http://www.irisglobal.org/).
Main Themes of the Conference
Two words kept being spoken in the messages we heard: joy and love. And all of the messages were wonderfully God, Christ, and Holy Spirit honoring. The fear of the Lord was in the room.
Joy is a gift given to us by the Holy Spirit. It is the second fruit of the Spirit. Love is the first. We cannot manufacture joy, we can only receive it when it is offered to us. We live joyfully even in the midst of suffering, poverty, uncomfortable circumstances, loss, overwhelming evil, and persecution. Joy is not an emotion like happiness. Joy is permanent; it can never be taken away or stolen from us. Joy is rooted in the love of our Heavenly Father – our love for Him and His love for us. When we have died to ourselves, given up finding our value in all things of this world including our health, status, our possessions, money, etc., we find joy in knowing that ‘in Christ’ our lives, our inheritance, and our eternal destiny are completely secure. We are saved in His love and His presence. Nothing can shake us when our lives are hidden in Christ.
Joy is more than an emotion. It is a permanent state of mind. It manifests itself in the way we speak, our countenance, how we stand and walk, our laughter, interact with others, and our compassion. The joyful person thinks more about others than about himself. They have nothing to lose because in one sense they have lost it all and in another sense they have gained it all – and what they have gained is theirs for eternity. They do not live with fear, anxiety, hopelessness, or bitterness. These emotions are all related to the fear of losing something or the resentment that comes from having something taken away from them. They are truly free.
As I wrote above, joy is a gift from the Holy Spirit. At the conference, we asked the Holy Spirit for more joy, reminding me of the Scripture, “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16: 23, 24 NIV).
If Christians do not walk in “joy of the Lord’, then in this sense we are indistinguishable from the world around us. And that must break the heart of God.
I don’t know about the other attendees, but Judy and I did ask the Holy Spirit for more joy, and we left Durham filled with the “joy of the Lord”. So far, it hasn’t worn away. But you don’t have to go to a conference to receive joy. You can ask Jesus yourself – “Lord, I want more joy in my life. Today, I receive your joy”.
(If you have been reading my posts you know that repentance is important to me. I believe that God does want His children to walk in all the fruits of the Spirit, but the first word of the Gospel is, you guessed it, “Repent”. I believe that repentance and receiving are connected.)
‘Love’ was the other word used over and over again in the conference, as in love God, receive the Father’s love, and love others.
Rolland Baker in particular stressed love. His central message was, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. When you love God that way, there is no room to love the things of the world. It is difficult to get to that place where you love God completely. You have to die to yourself, and that is painful. But if that is where you want to be, you will have to completely depend upon God.
Loving God in this way has several important implications. We demonstrate our love for God through our obedience. We are obedient to his written word and we are obedient to His word spoken to us. When God calls us to leave our home and go to live somewhere else, out of love for the Father, we obey.
We also demonstrate our love for the Father through our trust. We trust God with every aspect of our lives – our health, our work, our relationships, our families, our safety, our finances, our time – everything. For example, in America, probably more than any other country in the world, many people put their trust in their guns. This idol is even brought into the church. Some people believe that a gun is the source of their control and gives them power. This is not trusting God. At least with respect to their safety, they love something of the world more.
We love God in direct proportion to our willingness to go ‘low’, to humble ourselves in situations, and before people. When we love God we always think better of others than we do ourselves, we always put their needs before ours. That is because when we love God completely, we have no other needs. At the conference, God showed me two ways in which I was not loving Him with all my heart.
I had a particular parking spot that I liked in the parking lot of the conference center. I rushed Judy through lunch on Friday to get back to the conference early enough to park in my favorite spot. As we pulled into the parking lot, I could see the spot was open. But there was one car in front of me driven by an older woman (older than me). “Surely, she wouldn’t want my spot”, I thought. But she turned down the aisle where my spot was located. I was right behind her in my car. “OK”, I thought, “she passed my spot.” So I zipped into the spot right behind her. Then she did a strange thing. She stopped in the lane and looked back. It was Judy who saw that she had stopped because she was going to back into my spot! “Too bad”, I thought, “snooze you lose”. I got out of the car, locked it up, and we walked in. There were at least 10 open spots for her to park in, but I was so obsessed with my “wants, needs, and desires” that I didn’t feel bad. Until about 10 minutes later when God told me how displeased He was with me. I made it all about me, and did not display either my love for Him or for my neighbor. If I had seen her face and could have located her at the conference, I would have been compelled by the Holy Spirit to apologize.
The real reason I rushed back to the conference was to get back to the seats we had saved before lunch. Most people who came to the conference in the morning saved their seats by putting their jackets or bibles on their chairs. The problem with this is that all the good and even not-so-good seats were taken so if someone skipped the morning session but came for the afternoon, most of the seats were already claimed. I really loved our seats. They are in the middle of the venue on the left side. I mean, I really loved them!! I wanted to be sure no one stole them from me.
“Good”, I said to Judy, “our seats are still there” as we walked into the hall after I rudely took the older woman’s parking spot. We were settled into our seats when another ‘older woman’ passed by (she had been walking up and down the aisle) looking for two seats. God told me, “Give her your seats”. I pretended I didn’t hear Him (and later the verse came to my mind, “Did God really say . . . “). And we sat in those two seats for the rest of the conference!
You see, I didn’t trust God. “Where will we sit, God? We didn’t pay all this money and travel 4 hours to sit in the ‘way back’ where we couldn’t see Heidi Baker.” (Who knows, if we had given up these seats He might have moved us to the front). That attitude is not loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In order to love God this way, I have to give up the right to myself (in this case a parking spot and 2 chairs, both indicative of a larger selfishness). If I can’t even give up these things, how will I give up the really big stuff necessary to put God first in my affections? But God corrected me, gave me grace, and told me, “Next time listen and obey.”
Love for God is also not something I can manufacture. My love for Him is a gift that He gives to me. But like joy, and like my two examples, there needs to be some repenting on my part (actually, for most of us a lot of repenting), and choosing, accepting, receiving (whatever word you like) His love. The increase in my love for Him and His Kingdom is directly proportional to the decrease in my love for myself and for the things of the world. At the end of my life, I believe the only question God will ask me is, “How well did you love me?” manifested, in part, by how well did I love all those God brought into my life – especially the least, the lost, the poor, the filthy and smelly, the inconvenient, the line-cutters, and those who hated me or wanted to harm me.
Rolland made another really important point about our love for God. We don’t love the Father because of what He can do for us. We love Him because of who He is. We don’t come to the Father for healing; we come for the Healer. We don’t come to the Father for what He can give us; we come for the Giver of all good things. Our love for the Father, for Jesus, and for the Holy Spirit flows out of a heart that has given up on the ideas and things of the world; they no longer hold an attraction for us. When we love the Father with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength we are free! And we cannot manipulate God. Our love for Him must be real.
And of course, there is a connection between love and joy. Our joy flows out of our love for the Father and the freedom that our love for Him releases into our hearts. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 16: 9 – 11 NIV).
We prayed at the conference for a greater love for the Father and also to receive a greater measure of the Father’s love for us. When we prayed, I felt the love of the Holy Spirit flow over the hall. God’s love for us was tangible. His love was there and I sensed that many received it. Even when we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us – the greatest manifestation of God’s love for us. Which comes first – repentance or the Father’s love? That night at the conference, I sensed the latter. After all, the Father loved the world before He sent Jesus to die for us.
God is love and He loves His creation. Do you want more of God’s love? Do you want to love people better? Is it your desire to love God with all of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength? Then ask Him. Remember, Christ tells us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who ask receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7: 7, 8 NIV). Here is a short prayer:
“Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I want to love you more and I want to love the things of the world less. Give me a greater love for you and a greater love for those who you bring into my life, if even for a minute. And Father, fill me with your love so out of me will flow rivers of living water.”
There was another theme at the conference. That was the idea that God was moving people into new directions of ministry, new seasons of their lives, and new creative endeavors. At one point, Kristen prayed over the conference for God to give boldness, clarity, and new directions to people’s lives and ministries. I felt included in this prayer as I wrestle with the direction of this blog.
All of the talks at the conference were filled with the Holy Spirit, flowing out of hearts that were (or seemed to me to be) surrendered and submitted to Christ. It was true that the word ‘repent’ was not spoken often, but the idea that we needed to die to ourselves and to the things of the world was a pervasive theme. All the talks were very God honoring.
Before I share some quotes, I want to tell you that Heidi Baker was powerful and humble. She shared some stories of the work IRIS has done and is doing. She shared her heart for the extremely poor around the world, especially in Africa. She emphasized the importance of loving God and not the world. She talked about the necessity of having humble hearts. She shared amazing stories of signs, wonders, and healings that she and her teams have seen in Mozambique.
At the end of her presentation she invited those who, for various reasons, had to leave (baby sitters, etc), then she prayed for the Holy Spirit to come, asking us if we “wanted more of Him.” It was a powerful 15 minutes as Judy and I felt the wave of God flow over us. When it was over, I could hardly walk. Maybe I am wrong, but when you look at the incredible Kingdom work she has done around the world, the miracles, signs and wonders that have flowed through her, totally surrendered and submitted to Christ, I wonder if she is not an example of a present-day Apostle? She certainly carries that anointing.
My Memorable and Notable List of Quotes
Here are some of the more notable quotes from the conference. I know they are out of context, but I think they communicate the main ideas of the speakers. I am not sure of who said what, but they will give you a sense of the Spirit that was moving over us for 2 ½ days.
“Are you burning with the fire of God? If not, there is too much life (life of the kingdom of the world) in you. You must die to yourself to be filled with the fire of God.”
“Scripture says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind, and strength.” It does not say, “You shall, or else . . . “. When you see how beautiful, majestic, powerful, and wonderful God is, you ‘shall’ love Him.”
“God wants one thing from me – He wants my love. Because He knows that if He has my whole-hearted love, He has everything else. Why am I in this world? To love God.”
“My most important gift to God after my love, is my worship. I will worship God even if He gave me nothing or took it all away.”
“I suffer for the gospel according to the power of God. We don’t get things from God by trying to get things from God. Humble yourself. Everything comes through Him as a gift of grace. Come to Him empty-handed. Go low.”
“My joy comes from loving Him. This is freedom and peace. He is the perfect desire of my heart.”
“May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering” (the prayer of Moravians who sold themselves into slavery to bring Christ to African slaves in the West Indies).
“First appearances (impressions) come quickly, but fruit takes time.” Kristen said this with reference to an ugly tree in the front yard of a house he and his wife recently bought. The tree was so ugly he wanted to cut it down. His wife said, “No”. Later, during the summer, the ‘ugly’ tree produced the most delicious plums he had ever eaten.
“Isaiah wrote, “The Lord is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.” “The Lord is my salvation,” means that God is the source of everything needed for life. Christ is the anointed One. He received the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We are people of the anointing.”
“Don’t let circumstances, people, worry, or unforgiveness steal your joy. Don’t let your joy be connected to your things, accomplishments, money, etc. Joy comes from Jesus and there is nothing better.”
“God said to Rolland, “Son, I can anything to (or through) anyone who is willing to give up comfort.”
“Imitations are worthless. God wants the original you. You can’t wear someone else’s shoes. Yield yourself to God. Tell Him, ‘God, write what you want through me.’”
“God created me for Him, not Him for me. I am not in love with doctrine, prayer, or worship. I am in love with the One the doctrine is about, the One to whom I pray, and the One I worship. I am not in love with signs, wonder, and miracles. I am in love with the One who gives signs, wonders, and miracles and the ones who are touched by them. I am in not in love with revival. I am in love with Jesus – the One I want to bring revival.”
“Every human being who does not know Jesus lives in darkness. When you have a face-to-face encounter with the love of Jesus you can face all darkness – real evil. You can step into darkness, unafraid, holding a key to set people free.”
“If you really understand what union with God means, then your only answer can be, YES!!”
My Summary of the Conference
We were blessed and impacted by the conference. We saw some things that we didn’t understand or agree with. Some of the worship seemed to be about performance. When the worship team played, everyone ran to the front of the venue to stand next to the stage. I suspect that the worship songs were arranged to bring the crowd to a crescendo. But overall Judy and I enjoyed the worship, especially the last set before Heidi spoke. One of the speakers needed two guys to hold him up, otherwise he would have fallen down under the influence of the Holy Spirit. That was strange to us, although his message was good. As I wrote above, sin and repentance were not specifically mentioned, but were certainly alluded to.
But apart from these things, the time spent at the conference was a real blessing. Judy and I came away healed, more whole, and more filled with the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit. We are more joyful, more convicted of the need to love God more, and more aware of how much better we need to love those around us, especially those we (I really mean ‘me’) have criticized and generally have avoided in the past. We are asking for more of the Holy Spirit and more of His presence in our ministries. I suspect that the full impact of the conference will not be felt for some weeks or months.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good, and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100 NIV).
For me, Psalm 100 is a great summary of the conference. The Psalmist is writing about us — Christians around the world!!! This psalm describes a heart that the world cannot understand. And although it cannot understand this heart of joy and thanksgiving, it is what the world desperately needs and wants. Loving the Father and filled with the Father’s love, it is our job to guide them into this life of love, joy, and worship.
Grateful and wanting more of His Spirit to love Him better,
John