Lakeland, Florida and some remarkable news!

At Church of Christ the King here in Brighton we are delighted to have over 250 students in our ranks and realise that each one of them has huge potential in God for the future.

One of our great joys in the past was to have amongst us John Kpikpi from Accra, Ghana. John had come to do a PhD at Sussex University and returned fully qualified as Doctor of Philosophy, to become Professor of Zoology at Accra University.

While with us, however, he wholly embraced our vision of New Testament church life and began a new church in his home, initially with a tiny handful. Over the years this church has grown to several hundreds and he has now planted and helps oversee churches both in Ghana and in six other West African nations. He is involved full-time in church oversight and, indeed, the raising up of a school in Accra with 900 students.

He has also written a book about the church entitled God’s New Tribe where his passion for true Biblical Christianity and church life based on grace and being a new people in Christ is wonderfully expressed. His most recent book on the life of David is truly inspirational (David and God).

Last week I received this text message from him on my cell phone. I think it is the longest and certainly the most remarkable I have ever received!

On Thursday night (29th May 2008) I was watching the Florida outpouring on God TV. It went on till our time 12.30am. Towards the end there were testimonies of the 15th person raised from the dead – one of which was reported by cell phone from Kenya!

I was about to go to bed when a lady in our church phoned to say that her husband had stopped speaking and stopped responding to her, and asked me to come.

It was rather dire when I got there; we could not detect any breathing movements at all, and his body felt very cold to the touch. There was no pulse and his limbs were limp. Not being a medic I can’t claim he was dead but there was no evidence of life.

His three children were crying in another room while I set out to pray for him with his wife, obviously filled with faith from my time watching the TV.

After praying for a while I thought I noticed a slight movement below the thorax. I wondered whether my eyes were playing tricks on me so I rested my palm gently over the area – and felt it move. I asked his wife to feel the same place but she said she couldn’t feel anything. We continued to pray and I saw his collar bone move up and down!

We pressed on and then I could hear breathing noises. Then he began to snore and at this time his wife called him and he responded with a grunt! I felt it was time for me to leave and I went in and assured the children that their Dad was OK.

Was he raised from the dead? Well, I think if I hadn’t gone in with impartation from the Florida outpouring we would all have been wailing on Sunday; rather he came to stand with his wife before the church as a great testimony.

Hallelujah! I am hungry for more of this present outpouring.

John Kpikpi
2nd June 2008

As you are prayerfully pondering the significance of what is taking place at Lakeland, Florida at the moment, you might like to ponder the implications of this item of news. To God alone be the glory!