Awakening in Northeast and Northwest

January/February Revival Report

Over the past two months, we have been blessed to see the Lord’s hand working mightily from coast to coast. Not only have we sensed the kindling of revival fires in numerous meetings – we have also experienced a personal shift as we are now moving our ministry headquarters to the Atlanta area.

We would like to offer a recap of what the Lord has been doing through the ministry since the start of the year, as well as offer some prophetic insights for the Northeast and Northwest regions of America. We hope you enjoy some of the testimonies below.

Awakening Wind in New England

In January, I traveled to Gateway Christian Fellowship in Connecticut, joining our new and dear friend, Pastor Brian Simmons, and his family. At the conference, Dutch Sheets shared about the region being “baptized into the miraculous.” In addition, Dr. Chuck Pierce had prophesied last fall that when the wind reaches 67 miles per hour, the region would know that one season was ending and the people were now entering into their future. The day before this conference, the wind blew at 68 miles per hour, with headlines reading “Blown Away.” These words correspond with a general “shift” in the spirit that many prophetic voices are seeing for this year.

The Lord brought a powerful message through Brian, Dutch and Chuck, as well as through Jason Upton, Phil Zaldatte and the Mike Smith Band. I also shared what the Lord was giving me regarding this awakening wind, relaying Song of Solomon 4:16:

Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad. Let my lover come into His garden and taste its choice fruits.

As the sevenfold lampstand in the tabernacle burned, its flames were couched in golden almond blossoms. The almond tree was the first to “wake up” in the spring, and in Hebrew, the word for almond tree literally means to “wake up” or “awaken.” It is in the place of an awakened church that God is about to release the fullness of His seven Spirits in this hour. Not only does His wind awaken us, but the wind itself is being stirred up and awakened.

The Lord Himself is arising on behalf of His bride:

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine (Psalm 78:65).

While at Gateway, the Lord also worked a number of miracles. A lady whose ear was deaf from birth was healed among other testimonies. There was also a night of powerful impartation. I felt a very personal connection to the region. On the day I was born, Aug. 10, 1976, Hurricane Belle struck Connecticut, with warnings going northward all the way from Georgia, where I was born. I feel that in some small way, my presence at the conference was symbolic of the merger of this south wind with the northern one. Belle means “beautiful,” and the Lord is truly awakening His bride into the beauty He has placed upon her.

Edwards’ Mantle Being Released

Our time in the Northeast was also highlighted by a visit to Enfield, Conn., the site of revivalist Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. I saw a vision there of Jonathan Edwards coming forward to hand me his mantle. But I was only standing there as a representative of a generation. There was a powerful prophetic flow as we ministered there at Enfield Christian Fellowship, and I shared about the same spirit of revival as Edwards walked in, as it is being released in a different package. For us, perhaps, the message will be Drinkers in the Hands of a Glad God as this latter day revival will be marked by bridal intimacy and those who have tasted His love that is “better than wine.” There will truly be deep conviction of sin, as was in Edwards’ day. Yet it will be far more refined – not simply a fear of imminent judgment, but a response to the jealous flame of divine love.

Responding to the holy hunger and reception we have felt in New England, we will be returning in May with the entire family for a three-week ministry tour of the region. Please see our itinerary page for more details.

Spilling to the Northwest

We feel that the Lord is showing us a strategic connection in this hour between the Northeast and the Northwest regions of the country. I believe there is divine strategy and intercontinental connection being released in this hour that literally corresponds to the anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition exactly 200 years ago. We will discuss this more below.

Immediately following our time in New England, we ministered at a conference in Olympia, Wash. with Peter Helms and Jason Phillips. There were numerous healings, including a lady healed of fibromyalgia. A lady confined to a wheelchair received more movement in her legs and was able to walk several steps for the first time. Another woman was healed of hip and back pain that had troubled her for a year and a half. A woman was healed from macular degeneration, receiving back her eyesight to the degree that she could read again. Movement was restored to someone who could earlier not even bend or lift her arm. There were also healings of tendonitis, knee problems, arthritis and other physical health issues. We truly saw the Great Physician touching His people.

Following that conference, we ministered at Rivers of Grace Church in Olympia, where there were several more healings. Another person bound to a wheelchair after paralysis from the neck down shared about how the Lord has gradually been healing him. During the service, he received more movement in his body than he has experienced before since his accident. He was also able to walk.

Joel’s Army: Mission

Ministering at a Joel’s Army conference in Mission, B.C. Canada earlier this month, several young people gave their lives to the Lord. If there were any religious spirits left after that service, you could hear them leave screeching as we water baptized 10 young people on the spot with Evian bottled water! Several received the gift of tongues. We released a healing wave, and the wine of Heaven was flowing strongly. We stayed over for several more meetings at East Gate Church in Mission, and the Lord continued to release His glory through prophetic ministry. One night, several people rushed forward to throw their tobacco and smoking paraphernalia on the altar as the Lord released a spirit of deliverance. Pastor Brian Olynick and his family were also a great blessing to us as we set out on our journey back to the East Coast!

Lewis & Clark Intercontinental Connections

While Lily was praying for me recently, the Lord showed her a large arch, underneath of which was a tall tree whose roots extended and tapped into the lightnings and power of God. At the time, I did not understand the prophetic significance of this.

Earlier this month, we visited Seaside, Ore., the site where the famous explorers Lewis and Clark turned around at the end of their long journey to the Pacific Ocean after crossing the span of continental America. Lewis and Clark pioneered a route across the country that would serve to open the nation up from one end to the other.

Our visit to Seaside corresponded exactly to the time that Lewis and Clark turned around and headed back eastward 200 years ago. It was at this site that they made salt for their journey back. The Lord told us that this was a place of “turning,” and that we should move back to the East Coast. We immediately relocated to Atlanta, closing a six-year season on the West Coast.

On the journey to Atlanta, we stopped at the St. Louis Gateway Arch, and the Lord had me stand underneath it as a prophetic act. This place was a strategic launching place as a “final outpost” when the West was being explored, and it was considered a gateway city. Even now, the Lord is opening a gateway between spiritual deposits on the East and West Coasts of America and Canada, and those who drink from both streams will sink their roots deep into power evangelism. The awakening that is happening on both coasts of the nation is going to mature as there is connection and cohesion in the body of Christ. During this time, Lily began seeing open-eye visions of lightnings, as bright as camera flashes in her eyes. This happened eight times, symbolizing new beginnings and the spiritual shift that is coming to America.

Also underneath the Gateway Arch stands a famous courthouse where the Dred Scott case was tried. Dred Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom. As these cross-continental connections begin to take place in the church, there is going to be a breaking of the spirit of slavery, as well as the orphan spirit, both of which will be replaced by a spirit of sonship and adoption.

Apostolic Connections: Shifts in Leadership Models

To summarize what the Lord has been showing us, there are coming connections between the East and West Coasts, as well as the north and south. These are not “church connections.” The Lord is shifting us from the church age to the Kingdom age. These are apostolic connections, as the Lord is even now releasing an emerging apostolic movement.

As regional apostolic centers and leadership models emerge (there is even now a completion in some of the pioneering that has taken place to this end, just as Lewis and Clark completed their westward trek and turned around), it will be vital to cross-pollinate and stand under this canopy of mutual submission and fellowship that this arch represents. There will be no single region that “owns” this coming revival, nor any single ministry that can take credit for it. But in the place of unity and cohesion, we will see the “commanded blessing” of multiplication (Ps. 133).

There is much more to discuss, and many more practical applications to highlight about what I am saying. We will touch on the emerging apostolic movement a bit more in our Word of the Week teachings over the next couple of weeks.

Until then, our prayer is that the Lord continues to bless you with the intimate depths of his heart, the revelatory riches of His mind and the mighty power and provision of His hand …

John Crowder, 3/22/2006