Power Encounters Among Christians in the Western World: Among Christians in the Western World

I don't have much info to add to Todd's review. This book came out in 1988 so it has been 18 years since the stories it covers. But it does a good objective job of covering the Vineyard / "Third Wave of the Spirit" movement by covering a number of people's stories. There is a fair amount of theory in the introduction that seems both fairly deep and still readable. Then all the stories - particularly from some scholars and some previously "anti charismatic" Christians. Since a lot of the stories happened in a graduate school setting they were very impressive to me. Seminary tends to teach you to think critically, so this is not some fly by night pentecostal experience that appeals only to the uneducated. Particular tenets of the Vineyard movement that I found helpful: 1) not every one gets healed or is supposed to get healed. (Wimber himself had cancer for years.) 2) Tongues is fine but not the essential mark of being filled with the Spirit. 3) Healing ministry is not just for the big tent or the TV but for the laity and is sometimes better done behind closed doors or one on one in privacy. 4) God wants us to focus on ministry and love to the whole person - not just on healing. 5) Ministers need to adhere to Biblical guidleines for exercising the gifts or the situation can become unhealthy (Wimber had to go correct a church in Kansas City cause it got out of hand). There is more - but that is enough for a flavor Interesting and informed is what I thought of the book.

If you have had some experiences with God that you've never heard of before, and sometimes you struggle to believe that it was God because of that, this might be a very freeing book for you, and more. For about 2 years I occasionally struggled as I looked back on and considered my first experience of speaking in tongues. Until I read this book, I had never heard of someone having an experience like I did, so sometimes I would struggle with confusion. "Was that the real thing? How come I've never heard of anybody else getting the gift that way?" But I was so sure it was God! Well, this book really freed me up as I read Don Williams testimony about how he first got the gift of tongues. He came into the gift the same way I did. He was all alone and felt an overwhelming sense of joy and as he responded to God (in English), in that moment the English was inadequate and he began speaking in tongues. Here's his exact words: "Hiking up alone on the firebank I began to pray aloud. A great desire to praise God came over me, and I did it freely. Joy then began to explode inside of me and, as Jesus promised, I felt a river of living water bubbling up (John 7:38). Laughing and crying I found myself in ecstasy and the desire to worship, love, and praise God became so intense that English was no longer adequate to express my joy. At that moment, the Lord gave me the gift of an unknown tongue to continue my worship. The nonsense syllables (to me) rushed out of my mouth. It was sheer delight. At the same time, I was so relieved that I was alone and kept wondering, 'What would my friends think if they could see me now?'" I could really relate to Don's story because he grew up very conservative like me. I don't think it's merely a coincidence that we both had a similar conservative upbringing and then also had a very similar experience of receiving the gift of tongues. Our hearts were open, God saw that, and in His grace He brought this experience about in a way that worked for us. The traditional "jump start" method (i.e. a leader lays their hands on you and directs "Just start saying 'abba ba abba ba abba ah' really fast and receive the gift", etc.) was just too much for me at the time. Today I am not outright oppossed to that kind of thing, who am I to say that God won't use that means to bring His child into a gift of grace, but back then my mind was too offended I think. What a merciful God to accomodate me (and Don it seems). This book is primarily a compilation of 16 testimonies from men and women who got messed with by God in the previous generation (though many of them are still around today). They are stories of how people got incorporated and moved into what some term "The Third Wave." There is something so helpful about hearing how it actually went down in someone's life. How the real thing came about. There's not a lot of theory in this book but there is a lot of real accounts of what God actually did- and thus it's c