Before I go on to the meat of the post, let me posit some information for folks looking for travel information for the Lakeland Revival.
Most of the hotelage in town is on the north side of town along I-4. If you're staying for a week or so, the Suburban Lodge is a decent extended-stay bet, which is on US-98 (I-4 Exit 32) near the Lakeland mall and about a mile south of Ignited Church. There's also a Motel 6 at that exit for budget travelers and a number of nicer motels at Exit 33.
If you're on a bigger budget, there's a nice Holiday Inn on the south side of town on Florida Avenue (FL-33) and a nice Residents Inn rather close to the Lakeland Airport site of the revival.
Flying in? The airport in Lakeland isn't commercial, so you'll be looking at either Tampa or Orlando. The Tampa airport is easier to get around than Orlando and has free WiFi, but getting from the airport to Lakeland can be a challange; the airport is on the west side of downtown and you have to go through downtown Tampa and the infamous Malfunction Junction of I-275 and I-4 in order to get over to Lakeland; the Ignited Church host site is off of exit 32 while you'll most likely want to use the Drane Field Road exit on the Polk Parkway to get to the revival site.
If you're flying in or out during rush hour, it would be less stress to go via Orlando; if you're coming or going during off hours or on the weekend, I'd recommend Tampa.
______________
Meanwhile, let's get a take on Todd Bentley that I trust, from Lakeland Vineyard worship pastor Rick Esquevel; I attended there from 2002-2004, and found him to be a very level-headed guy. When someone Googled in looking for LV's lead pastor Dave Baker's take on Bentley, I found this regional Vineyard worship leader discussion board where Rick was sounding off on the revivial-
While the call to discern and test the spirits is obviously scriptural, I fear that many throw the baby out with the bathwater. [Vineyard movement founder John] Wimber said "When you eat chicken, you eat the meat and spit out the bones" good advice. "The people most opposed to a new move of God are the folks from the previous move", also from Wimber.
Jesus had angels minister to him, and told the disciples "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man". John 1:5 John would also have quite an encounter and prolonged discussion with an angel while on the island of Patmos, yielding the book we now call Revelation.
I have read Todd's accounts, and watched on You-Tube postings and been at several of the meetings here, and have never heard him say anything that indicates or encourages angel worship. The only one he seems to want people to worship, again in my observations, is Jesus! Jesus is always credited with the healing power, and Todd has said that signs and wonders, healing miracles should cause people to want to find out about Jesus and get saved. Hard to argue with that.
In attending the meetings, we had to consciously suspend our critical and judgmental attitudes and seek God. Are You at work here, Father? What would you have me see and learn here? Does Your move always look the way I think it will? There is lots we could be critical of, but I think the important thing is to go a few times observe, pray, before forming an opinion. Todd is no theologian to be sure, but can God use him? I guess so, it seems that He is using him, and many of the healing are quite dramatic and verifiable, including some known personally to us.
I also know that the ones who most opposed Jesus and what He did were the religious folk, the ones who had it all together, who knew the book! While weighing all things, testing the spirits, confirming with God's Word, we must be cautious not to be so "correct" that we miss what God is doing, and His move in our midst.
One line that I like to use from time to time is "God used Baalam's donkey to deliver a message, and He'll occasionally use a jackass to deliver His message even to this day." Bentley may well fit that description; remember that the disciples were a motley crew that a human-resources headhunter wouldn't have pick for Jesus ministry team.
The one line in Pastor Rick's take that leaves me a bit cold is the start of that next-to-last paragraph where he wants to "consciously suspend our critical and judgmental attitudes." I'll buy the judgmental part, but I think we still need to be critical in the good sense of the word; not in a Monday-morning QB sense but with a spirit of discernment to see if things are spiritually on the up-and-up. We need the Word to balance the Spirit and can't go into things rationally brain-dead.
That being said, I'm still on the fence on this revival. It seems risky and run by a guy with some off-beat theology, but I don't want to get in God's way if he wants to use this tattooed biker dude to get His message out to folks.
Recent Comments