Day One of the Williamsburg Trip

Day One – Wednesday September 6^th – The journey begins…

Mission for Day 1 – Arrive safe in Williamsburg, Virginia with the cross and the tent…
5:55 am came around and I was at Jason’s house, the man with the cross; the 12 foot cross with an octagonal tent that surrounds it.  We were to leave at 6:00 am, but the Lord was providing him with some deep sleep.  His wife woke him and we left at 6:15 am.  We were heading to a church called Newtown UMC, where he previously attended before moving to Athens, Georgia to work with Rick Bonfim.  I often refer to Rick as a Brazilian Methodist Evangelist.  This trip, from Jason’s driveway to the parking lot of the church took ten solid hours.  Williamsburg is one of seven major cities near the beginning of the Chesapeake Bay, and there is a lot of history there.  One piece of history is that Jamestown is where prayers were made for the new people coming to America to be a royal priesthood, a peculiar nation, a people set apart to proclaim the gospel throughout this nation and the nations of the world.  God we have strayed.  More history is worth learning later, on your own.

Although Jason has traveled five or six times with the cross and tent, I have only been with him to Livingston, Tennessee by ourselves.  That trip was very short.  This trip, Rick and Betty will be part of a four day revival from Sunday to Wednesday.

While driving up we conversed about humans, versus persons; humans as a species like animals or reptiles, versus a human which has been born from above, filled with God’s Holy Spirit and made into a person who is continuously being glorified and transformed into the representation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  We talked about whether spirits can enter nature.  We know that Jesus proclaimed that the rocks would cry out if we didn’t praise Him, the pigs were the recipients of a demonic exorcist, the trees clap their hands, and the clouds are the dust of God’s feet.  This is what brought up some talk of humanism versus personhood.

Since I trust Jason, and I am six and a half years younger than he, and because he is a gentle, very strong, meek man of God, I have been confiding in him at times about the relationships I have with others in life.  Jason and I agree that people… persons… (those born anew with the Spirit of God) should be very hesitant to enter into a relationship with an idea that they feel the need to be the one who fixes, heals, or changes things.  What shall that person do when the issue is fixed?  Their identity as “the fixer” goes away and perhaps they become bored with the status quo life, or want to help another person.  Rather, we are to see God in the other and their potential.  We are to discern the spiritual life they live, their ability to communicate and “hash things out.”  Most importantly, (verily, verily) wait to see if the true callings align.  Will the callings line up five years down the road?  Or will one or the other pretend their calling is similar to the others to be with them.  Time will tell, and that is why patience is necessary.  If patience is not included, flesh, lust and infatuation may get in the way and we, like Adam, may follow Eve to do something we ought not do, and therefore thwart the calling God originally intended.  We then would have to settle for less than perfect.  God knows my heart and will bless me with a crown later in life.

After Waffle House for breakfast, gas stops, and many more talks, we arrived at the church while it was drizzling, and therefore we went to Jason’s place.  We ate dinner, went back to the church, and then went to the prayer room downtown that Jason used to manage.  As we waited upon the Lord, we discovered a leak and mold, and we walked around and admired the work done by the numerous people involved.  After a time, we were led to pray and afterwards, I read the prayer for the nation in the back room.  We went home after 10:00 pm and (after looking at some Portuguese,) I went to sleep by 11:00 pm or so.
Mission for Day 1: Accomplished. 

 

The Introduction to…

The Diary of an Evangelist
By Stephen Burnette

I am in Taylor’s car.  We are driving through Madison Georgia.  It is about 5:30 am, dark and foggy, and no one is at this light except one truck at the downtown square, and one car that passed by.  It is Saturday morning, September 16^th, and I am beginning The Diary of an Evangelist, prompted by Rick Bonfim, my current boss.  I thank God that he knows his boss is Jesus Christ, and does, to the best of his ability, follow and lead us according to the Holy Spirit, and with the love of the Father.  It may be more of the correctional tough love than the tender gentle love, but this way, we at Rick Bonfim Ministries are carefully molded to become solid men and women of God.  After all, God disciplines His children as well.

Taylor and I are on our way to Madison Florida, another 3 hours and 39 minutes away.  Arrival time without stops is at 9:15.  I told the awesome man of God who is donating a used Lexus to our ministry, that we would arrive between 10:15-10:45 am, and would call him around 8:30 am or so to give an updated ETA.  Obviously the 9:15 arrival time on the phone does not account for gas, rest, stretch, or food stops.  Sadly, many don’t think of this and are late!  Why is the ministry getting a free Lexus?  Well, it is simply one of the things that happens in an evangelists life.  During Rekindle the Flame, our annual conference, God also provided the ministry with a different car for another young man of God who is currently at Asbury Theological Seminary.  I graduated from there last summer.

There is a lot to tell in this Diary of an Evangelist, and I will begin with the meetings in Williamsburg Virginia which Jason and I returned from two days ago, Thursday around midnight.  Why start in the car at 5:41 in the morning?  Why not?  My friend is driving about 45 miles per hour, cautiously expecting to see a deer.  Once, while he was riding with his dad, his dad hit a deer that jumped over the barrier in the middle of a 4 lane highway, and that is some of the reason for driving ten miles per hour slower than the speed limit!  While we listen to orchestra music, let me begin to tell you about the Williamsburg Meetings at New Town United Methodist Church, one day at a time.