Look What The Lord has Done!

I recently submitted this letter to Dr. Michael Brown. He asked for testimonies from the Brownsville Revival and I thought all of you would enjoy what I wrote. Enjoy! Cyndi

Look What the Lord Has Done!

The first time I heard of the Brownsville Revival was in 1997, May to be exact. I was graduating from college in Louisiana and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and said He had a surprise present for me. Not long after that, I was invited to go to Pensacola Florida with a bunch of the ladies from my church. Let’s lovingly call it St. Minks and all Cadillacs. For I was the priest wife of a large Cathedral type Church in Louisiana.

 As we were driving down the road, my friend gave me some printed out papers of what was going on at this little place called Brownsville in Florida and I read them but I was more excited to be on a trip with the ladies going to the beach. We were listening to worship music and as we got closer and closer to Florida the presence of the Lord increased as if it was multiplying with intensity. That was my first hint that God was doing something really miraculous, for the closer I got to Florida the more his presence enveloped me.

We had driven all day and went straight to the condo but the next morning we were all up early and decided to go to Dr. Michael Brown’s teachings, which he had, I think a couple of times a week. At that time of day, there was not a long line so I could go in the church and shop, for VCR tapes and books and manuals Etc. So, I just walked in the main sanctuary and sat on the back row and started to pray in silence.

All of a sudden, tears welled up in my eyes, as if an angel had come and put their hands on my shoulders, the presence of God was unmistakable, and sweet, like warm oil or a fresh breeze on a spring day; it’s hard to describe but it was pure love. I felt His presence instantaneously. What a beautiful God and I knew immediately this was a holy place, this was where God had come to meet with His people; a Divine Visitation.

As the weeks and months went by, I attended the Brownsville Revival at least every 2 to 3 months, for 2 weeks at a time. I couldn’t stay away. It called to my heart, it called to my body, and called to my soul in deep longings. I would weep when I had to go back to the mundane things of life, and I was captured by longing until I could get back to the Brownsville Revival.

Even standing in line was miraculous. To think you could wait in one-hundred-degree weather, with no shade, in a hot parking lot, in a line, all day long, while singing songs and not feel the heat. People would line up blocks away, and wait all day, to get into the Revival at night to get a seat in the main room. It was miraculous that I never felt the Heat and I get heat stroke easily.

I’m going to tell you a few of the most miraculous moments I had in the Revival as a testimony to what God did for a five-year period in Pensacola Florida. We now know, it was the longest Revival in our history, that has ever come to the United States of America.

Story #1.

 It was in one of Dr. Brown’s teachings. I liked to sit up front, because I learned the closer you were to the platform, the more anointing you felt. There was an obvious anointing by Holy Spirit, and it was coming through the great men and women of God, as well as residing within the building. Something most of us had never experienced before. At the end of his miraculous teaching, and I will have to say, the wisdom flowing through Dr. Brown was miraculous, it flowed effortlessly out him, from years of study, but mostly out of Revelation from the Holy Spirit. It was fresh bread, a new revelation from God, and I lapped it up like gravy and biscuits on a southern buffet.

I was starved for the word of God and someone who knew Him personally to teach me what Holy Spirit meant when in His word.

The miraculous time was not only hearing the word of God preached with such accuracy, but as I stood to my feet at the end in prayer. Dr. Brown always asked us to stand, while he prayed over his students. I had my hands raised in the air, and suddenly The River of God, literally, rushed from behind me through my legs!

 I felt as if I was standing in Knee Deep water, it was a Rushing River, and it almost knocked me off my feet. I will never forget that experience of the River of God, literally feeling the water wash through me. God take us not only Knee Deep but waist-deep and shoulder deep in the next Revival that you send, oh God. If that was only knee-deep, what more Glory can God pour out in our future together.

Story #2.

 It’s hard to recount all the miraculous stories that God has poured out upon me through the Brownsville Revival, but I will attempt to share with you one that happened at the youth conference. When I found out God was moving a such a miraculous way, I did everything I could to bring as many people, as I could load up into two or three minivans, to the Revival. I knew I didn’t have to explain anything, but just to throw them in the river and see if they learned how to swim. I brought youth from the Methodists, and the Baptists, Catholics and Episcopalians, I brought anybody that would join my youth group, which I called Saturday Night Alive.

I would teach them the principles of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and how to pray in intercession, how to worship and stories from the Revival to whet their appetite. So, whenever the youth conferences started in the summer, I would always bring at least two minivans full of kids with me. These were Junior High and high school children.

Two spectacular events happened to me at these youth conferences, among many, but two stand out in my memory.

 I went off with the youth pastors into the back room with Richard Crisco and his speakers to learn how to host a youth group, they gave us a lot of handy points.

While we were in the teaching section the kids were in the main Auditorium worshiping and getting teaching at their level. But, when I came back about an hour later, I saw something that I have not seen before or since.

3000 teenagers on their face, balled up like little balls, all over the room wailing and crying, and some were screaming. The presence of God was so thick. My first reaction was to grin from ear-to-ear. I was so excited to see what all the Spirit was doing with the children in the room. Obviously, they did not need me, and God was ministering to these precious ones Himself.

 I started to tiptoe around over the bodies on the floor, gingerly trying to make it back to my seat. And as I was scooting down my row. I heard a strong bold voice and it said:

“HOW CAN YOU STAND IN MY HOLY PRESCENCE?”

I immediately Hit the Floor! Forehead to the floor and balled up in a little ball! The fear of God was so tangible in the room that I was actually afraid I would be destroyed because of the Holiness of the Lord. It was not an evil wicked presence but a Holy God. And I knew right then, I was just one of his children and the Holiness of God would have burned me completely up, had I not submitted myself to Him, at that moment in time.

Right after that they of course had an altar call, and I would say 75% of us in the room, went down to dedicate our lives to full-time ministry in the Lord.

Look What the Lord Has Done!

My 2nd story at the youth conferences is about one particular time during an altar call, and I always go to an altar call. I don’t care if I’m the oldest or the youngest in the room if God is in the house Cyndi will be found down front crying out for more. That is the key when Revival comes; Go for prayer as many times as possible, because the impartation multiplies as you receive, it multiplies in your life, and you feel the tangible miraculous power of God more and more and more.

During this particular meeting, I was down front with a two or three hundred kids and the speaker was praying for us for the anointing of God to come upon us. There was a plastic water pitcher up on the platform, probably for them to get a drink while they were preaching, and the speaker picked up the picture and spontaneously doused all of us at the altar, by waving his hand, and throwing the water on all of us.

When that water hit me, I was lifted up off the floor probably 6 to 8in and thrown back 10 to 12ft backwards. I was shaking like an earthquake had hit me. My eyes were closed, I was weeping and wailing and crying out for more. I wasn’t actually aware of what was around me at that moment in time, and I laid on the floor receiving all I could soak up in the presence of God.

After what I think was probably about 30 minutes on the floor, my youth group whom most had come down to the altar call with me, tapped me on the shoulder, and tried to grab my hand and help me off the floor. Then, I hear my very practical daughter say to me: ‘Mama, when you fell out you took about 10 teenagers out with you!”. I laughed and said, I hope they are okay. She said they were fine. Beware, and watch out for mothers at the altar going deep after God!

Oh, this is a good story, we would all go out to lunch after going to the morning teachings, and we would always tell people to come to the Brownsville Revival. You can’t miss it! This one particular time, we ate with a bunch of people from Pensacola who were not so happy that the Revival had come to town. Let’s just call them lovingly, religious lukewarm spirits. I proceeded to talk to them, gently, told them I was an Episcopal priest wife and I understood their concerns, but then I turned to my friends and said: I don’t care if the Evangelist slaps me, as long as when I get up off the floor, I have more of God!

Well, you guessed it, that night at the Revival, I’m chasing around Pastor Kilpatrick to try to get prayer. I know it sounds a little worldly now, but the truth is all of the evangelists, pastors, prophets, apostles, and ministers were being chased around during prayer time, because we were all starving for the anointing of God. It wasn’t that we were chasing men, but those were the ones God chose to use, and we were all excited to receive from God. So, I was getting prayer, as I always did and  I had forgotten what I had said to the people at lunch.

Let me explain. Pastor Kilpatrick has the hands of a horse. Those are the biggest hands I’ve ever seen on any man. His hand is the size two grown men’s hands, more like a meat hammer.

So, Pastor Kilpatrick comes towards me and I’m standing right in front of him and he pauses; then he looks up into the sky, and then he looks at me intently, and all of a sudden, he takes that big meat hammock of a hand and gently taps me on the cheek three times.

I burst out laughing hard. I knew that God had told him to slap me and he was too much of a gentleman to do so. So, when he laid hands on my head which covered my entire head, I fell out in the power laughing and laughing and laughing and laughing. The holy laughter hit me and knocked off every burden in my life that day. I will never forget the day Pastor Kilpatrick lovingly slap me. And yes, I did get back up off the floor with more of God. Smile.

Let me speak to you a little bit about Lila Terhune’s Ministry. She was the only woman that was on leadership team, at that time, that I knew of. Lila was a Powerhouse full of the joy of the Lord and wisdom. She was such a delight to watch the spirit flow in her meetings. I particularly remember how she just showed up with a CD player, and ran it through the main speakers. At that time, I thought how can I ever minister to anyone because I don’t have a worship team following me around? But Lila proved to me that God can come if it’s just you and a CD. (I now travel the world as an International Missionary with my CDs.)

Lila’s meetings were held in the youth group overflow room. We were in the meeting and Lila started to play this wonderful worship music. I think it was “Kiss The Son” by Kevin Prosch. Me and the Revival babes, we lovingly called each other, from the Episcopal Church, were sitting up high in the balcony because we got there a little late. That didn’t matter to God, He can find you anywhere.

At some point, I went out in the spirit and fell over in the pew. I woke up 4 hours later. Oh my gosh! My friend said; “You’ve been out for four hours.” I said: “What?”

 They said: “Yes, you missed the whole meeting and it’s time to go to lunch.”

 I could not believe it. The power of God was so strong it knocked me completely unconscious and I missed the whole teaching. Of course, later I went and bought the VCR tape and still have it to this day. Wow what a wonderful God we serve.

Another one of my stories I love to tell is about intercession with Lila. An hour or two before the Revival, which taught me more things about praying for our meetings, certain people were allowed in the cafeteria to pray and intercede that God would move during the night services.

They would have a little box with index cards you filled out to repent of all your sins. They threw the little box away and then we would spread out in the room to help intercede. Again, with CDs. It was the original social distancing; let’s call it spiritual distancing. It gave the intercessors enough room to dance. I loved to go in the intercession room. It was like bathing or soaking in the presence of the Lord. It was a special place of meeting between the Beloved Lord Jesus and His bride.

One particular day the presence of the Lord came in like a whirlwind. I had my eyes closed, and I was twirling around and praying in tongues, while calling the fire of God down, and twirling and twirling, and waving my arms, and dancing before the Lord I probably did that for an hour at least. When I open my eyes, everyone around me has fallen out in the Spirit of God, in a kind of spiral pattern.  I stood there watching everyone lying on the floor and I asked the Lord: “Why did you touch everybody in the room but me, Lord?”

 Then He said: “You were the one stirring up the Whirlwind with Me”. I felt His smile. And I replied: “Oh, I see.”

Afterwards, I went to the restroom, just to freshen up before we left to go to the Revival meeting, and I was telling the story to a lady, while I was washing my hands in the restroom. She said that was wonderful miraculous story, and she couldn’t wait to tell her brother all about it. It would inspire him in what God was going to do tonight.

She told me her brother was Steve Hill the main evangelist!

 You never know how God can use you, when you are in the secret place with God. He is so much fun.

Let me talk a little bit about Charity and her song Mercy Seat. I want to back up to the beginning of the first night I came to the Revival at Brownsville. At that time, I wasn’t sitting with the pastor’s wives up front and I ended up in the balcony.

Actually, I must have been so hungry, that I walked down and stood on the stairs so I could just get close as I could. As Steve Hill gave the altar call, I started praying in tongues to help bring in the lost, as I always do wherever I go. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in 1984 and my heart is to see God’s Kingdom Come and Rule and reign in the earth.

Then Charity started singing; ‘The Mercy Seat’.

Come a running . . .  come a running . . .  And I witnessed with my own eyes, something that I had only longed to see. I saw about a thousand people in a room, that held only 3,000 people, spontaneously all get up at the same time, and run and walk quickly to the front falling on their face at an altar call.

I could not believe my eyes! There was no begging for people to come, no getting them to raise their hand once, to inspire them to have enough courage to come forward. God’s sovereignly picked those people up off their seats and caused them to rush to the altar wailing. It was a holy moment in the room.

Different from the anointing flowing, it was a cry of expectation from heaven for lost souls to come home to Father God. The room was filled with such hope, and tears flowed down my face, pouring out effortlessly, as I saw what I could only imagine to be, the most miraculous altar call I had ever witnessed in my life, or perhaps would ever see again.

There was no guilt and there was no shame. When Steve Hill got up to preach, he could say the harshest things, what most people would consider Hellfire and Damnation sermons like Jonathan Edwards, and yet, the presence of God was so strong, you only felt a little prayer inside you welling up. ‘Thank you, Lord, for telling me. Thank you for recuing me from this horrible thing I’ve been involved in.”

There was no condemnation whatsoever, but a loving God crying out and calling for His beloved children to run into His arms as quickly as they could so that He may heal them, deliver them, and bring them home to Himself. Yes, Lord we will ride with you. Do it again Lord, just one more time, do it again Lord Jesus Christ. 

I can’t leave out the Deborah Women’s Conferences. Miraculous in so many ways. You see God has a special place in His heart for His women intercessors. And boy, did we have fun! All the wonderful jokes about the beehives, and the tongues sounding like bees in a hive, cross-pollination, and even the room looked like we were inside a beehive. We laughed and laughed and we had such wonderful teachings. I think I bought every single service of all the Deborah Conferences so that I can watch them all again.

One thing particularly stands out in my mind; the day Ruth Ward Heflin led us in intercession. I remember Ruth coming out onto the platform. The first time I saw her, I felt a special love for her. She was a large woman, very overweight, wearing a white skirt with a white jacket, and a beehive hairdo. I had not really experienced a lot of Pentecostal women. But we love the same Lord and we love each other. I think her being overweight touched me deeply. Because in this day and age in the church, if you don’t look like movie star, they don’t usually let you on the platform. And so, Ruth gave a room full of chubby pastor’s wives great hope. That it’s not about the outward appearance but about the heart and the anointing of God. We were chosen by God.

That was miraculous for me anyway, but what happened next you can still find on YouTube. Ruth started to sing, she sang little phrases she created and repeated them over and over, little phrases to worship the Lord and then she would pray in tongues. She would tell miraculous stories and we would all get caught up in the drama of what God had done in her life. Even the raising of the Dead with her friend laying in a pool of blood in a bathroom. What an awesome God we serve.

But I remember particularly dancing and singing in tongues for over 4 hours straight. We danced around the room, we sang, we clapped, we praised, we worshiped, and at the end of the 4 hours, I looked up on the platform, and I saw Ruth, just like a teenager, bouncing around and singing, as if she could go four more hours effortlessly.

 I apologized to the Lord and said Father I am so sorry; your body is out of shape. We have no endurance in the Spirit or the flesh. Forgive us Lord, we need a rest. I will never forget that, for everyone thinks they are walking in the Spirit when they have prayed for 15 minutes a day in the morning and a little bit before bed. But if true Revival comes, do you have enough stamina to flow with the river of God or to stand in the Wind without being knocked over? People get ready. Jesus is coming.

I was also there the day they called up all the pastor’s wives. Most of you probably don’t know this but when you are a pastor’s wife, they always call up the men, they get prayer everywhere we go. But the pastor’s wife is expected to sit on the pew and watch everyone else get prayer. She’s supposed to look beautiful and smile even when her heart is breaking. Oh, she’s supposed to play the piano, and to bring the food, and to clean up the dishes, and sometimes even cleaned the toilets. She runs the ministry for the children’s nursery, the Christian education programs, the Kingdom Kids, and the youth groups. She takes care of the pastor at home, to the best of her ability, and she never gets a word of thanks from most people. Usually, her neck is knotted up in tension and she has learned how to smile and do it all for the sake of the kingdom of God and serving those the Lord has given her. She loves deeply, and when things happen to the people in her congregation it breaks her heart. She never gets paid, either.

On this particular day, God decided He had enough! After calling all of us down front for an altar call, which was probably about a hundred women, we all fell down at the same time under the power of God. We were lined up like sardines across the front of the floor.

 I remember wailing from a deep guttural place wrenching deep inside my belly for at least an hour or two. And as I was wailing, I heard all of the women wailing, like they were giving birth, with me.

 But it was a grief, a deep grief in the Spirit and God was healing us. The men were standing behind us watching and weeping, for I know they had never seen anything like this in their entire lives. What we were going through on the floor was God miraculously doing spiritual heart surgery. When it was all over, the Holy Laughter hit us and we laughed and laughed and laughed as God shook off all the condemnation, all the judgmentalism, and all the things that are thrown at pastors wives daily. Jesus loves us and we love Him. Yes, Lord we are your bride. Thank you Lord for your tender administrations to us. You will never leave us nor forsake us. 

Dr. Brown I could write volumes of my experiences at the Brownsville Revival. As I know you can too. I hope these stories will bring you Joy as you learn of new ways God has touched His people through you and the others. Pastor Kilpatrick, you, Steve Hill, Lindell Cooley, and Lila Terhune, were used of God to teach us what the true five-fold Ministry would be like when they work together in unity.

I remember watching people baptizing in the baptismal pool from all denominations. And I said, this was truly a move of God for everyone was working together and there are no denominational divisions. I personally wept and cried when I heard what happened to you with the “Blue Vatican” and the school of ministry. I support you today and I will always support who you are in God. I love you all and I’m glad to have seen the reconciliation take place.

It is a new season and a new day and the glory of the Lord is increasing. Let us hope that this time it will not just be a Holy Visitation but a Holy Habitation. He has shown me and I have written three books called: “I too have a dream.” It’s God’s dream to build what he calls the ‘Cities of Refuge’. They will be a place, as the Book of Revelation says, where God will come down and we will be His people and He will be our God. May the Lord bless you brother, and may you be able to use some of my testimony to encourage yourself and others in the name of Jesus. You are a true history maker. God bless, you.

Cynthia K Kennedy

Love’s Messenger Ministries

www.lovesmessenger.net

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