and my friends and I were really hungry and I heard about this crazy outpouring
that was happening up in Toronto Canada now I'm only I don't know how old am I
at this I think I'm 16 at this point maybe 17 and so I still haven't spoken
in tongues but I hear that there's this crazy radical presence of God happening
at Toronto Canada and some of the people from that church are coming down to our
sister Church Petra and which is a new hall in Pennsylvania it's still a great
Church to this day and so my friends and I there's about four of us we're like
let's go let's go we're so hungry so we show up it's a packed building and I
don't remember much because it was kind of crazy but how many here you even know
what I'm talking about but there's a Toronto outpouring so there was an
outpouring of the holy spirit 1994 I believe and so this was 1994-95 and so
my friends and I go and I don't even have any explanation other than all I
remember I don't remember anyone praying for me I don't remember if someone even
preached that night all I remember is we were worshiping and the next thing I
know someone prays for me and my friends and we all go out under the power of God
and are shaking violently now remember we are Mennonite we have never seen
anything like this this is could not even be conjured up right and the
presence of God is just like sweeping across the room in measures that I I'm
telling you what we are experiencing is crazy but back in those early days it
was it was like you could taste it in the air it was so thick and so we are
all laid out under the power of God and next thing I know I hear this roar of
prayer at the altar area so I get up and I'm shaking violently shaking and I get
up me my friends are just shaking we don't we have no language for this and
really everyone's new so nobody can really explain anyway so we're just
shaking but we know it's God and I hear this roar of prayer which I want I love
prayer if you know me I love prayer and I love I think that
we need roars of prayer amen so there's this like fire pit going on of Prayer
and if you were just on their knees and all I knew was I have to just get in the
middle of that so I get I just come over and all I remember is I come and there's
I don't know who these strange people are but they're like these roaring fiery
prayer people and they're all speaking in tongues and I'm like I want that so
I'm gonna go sit and I just kneel and all I remember is putting my hands up
and beginning to pray and as I prayed it was like but boom something like came
like the river of God like never before just came bursting at me I began to
shout and scream and worship in tongues it was like it's like that it had been
stopped up for so many years and next thing you know it just boom well my
friends and I this is this isn't it this is why you have to have an encounter
with God because then there's no turning back I mean when you get so touched by
God and there it is so undeniable that He is real it does something to you
it changes the way you see life it changes your perspective it changes how you go
to church it changes how you interact with people it changes everything and so
here we are as little teenagers and we go back to our youth pastor and we say
oh my gosh you got to hear what happened we were shaking under the power of God
and he said that doesn't sound like God and we were like no we know we know that
that was God because we want more of Jesus like never before and if that
wasn't God that wouldn't be the fruit amen and so I have a very powerful
father so he handled that for me and so I wasn't an adult I'm just a teenager but
what I didn't know is that the Lord was preparing me to stand up and be
criticized for revival and to stand and go no I know it was real I experienced it for myself