The First A.M.E. Online Interactive Revival

First I thank so many of you for your outpouring of support, and prayers, in regards to the revival I am preaching this week at Emmanuel A.M.E. at 5917 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, and the subsequent Men's Day I am preaching on Sunday at St. Paul's in Malvern.

Many of you asked if the revival would be recorded. It not only was recorded but it also is online. All you need is a RealPlayer, a sound board on your computer and speakers. You can get a free copy of Real Player by [Clicking Here] If you already have RealPlayer installed you can hear the first message of the revival by [Clicking Here]

Now the reason for this discussion area, if you already have heard the message, join in the discussion. The revival message is built around a three-part study in Phillippians. The first message is drawn from Phillippians 2:1-13. It is titled "Jesus On My Mind," all apologies to Ray Charles. The Thursday message will be "Hard Pressed, but Pressing On," and I will post more information on that tomorrow.

News was only one aspect of the raison d'etre behind the birth of A.M.E. Today. One of its most immediate reasons was an alternate method of disseminating the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Since so many of you have already joined me in this week of preaching, it only seemed appropriate to open the door so we could have a more complete interactive and sharing experience with the Word of the Lord.

The Holy Spirit has lead me to this point, I hope you will help me make the vision clear and concrete. I am looking forward to your input as we venture into the A.M.E. church's first online, interactive revival and thanks to Emmanuel A.M.E. Church and pastor Raymond A. Hill for making it possible.

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2000

Answers

I do not know where to begin! Wow! What a powerful and timely sermon. Jesus on my mind. I have to share a story and how after hearing this sermon my actions changed. My upstairs neighbor is an alcoholic, and last night he was up all night falling down on the floor and walking back and forth. I did not get any sleep and was beyond grouchy this morning to say the least. I had spent most of the day today mad at this man for this is not the first time. Then I listened to Rev. Fisher talking about Jesus on our minds and hearts. By the way I was going to write my neighbor a nasty note. Anyway when Rev. Fisher talked about Jesus being inside of us, and how Jesus reached down to pick someone up. I was stopped in my tracks. I bowed my head and asked God's forgiveness and I also prayed for the healing of my neighbor. For you see at one time I was an alcohol and substance abuse therapist in New York city working with homeless men. I had clarity in my mind after hearing Rev. Fisher say "What would Jesus do?" It suddenly dawned on me that it can not be coincidence that we both live in the same building.I am going to write my neighbor a note, but I will ask if I can come and visit and pray with him. I will also bring the big book of AA with me. Yes Rev. Fisher we do need a revival, a daily one. So we can remember it was Jesus that picked us up and put us on the mountain top. We must help others. The atheist and philospher Nietche did say God was dead and had a lot of followers but as Rev. Fisher pointed out he is dead and the name and spirit of Jesus lives on! Thank you, thank you for letting us here this powerful message. I needed it today, for it reminded me to forgive others as Christ has forgiven me. I live in Montana and it is very expensive to fly out of here to get to revivals. And to get to my home church Wayman Chapel is over 300 miles roundtrip. The power of the internet is healing and I thank Rev. Fisher for his gift to us. I will greet all those I meet with "Jesus on my mind!" Rev. Denise Rogers

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2000

If the first night of revival was a blessing, I can not even find words to describe how the Holy Spirit moved for night two!!!

Unfortunately, satan too was at work. The tape malfunctioned. Not the tape recorder, but the tape. At several points during the sermon the audio drops out.

I refuse to let satan have the victory. I am going to post the tape anyway. For all of you who do not mind putting up with a little technical difficulty here and there, I hope you get to share the Blessing the Holy Spirit gave all of us who were gathered at Emmanual A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia.

Rev. Rogers, I never thought of the impact an online revival would have on someone who has to travel excessive distances just to get to a Sunday church service. This makes me even more joyful that God laid it upon my heart to bring this revival online, and that it touched at least one person. One person is more than sufficient, but God knows that more hearts than that have felt the word He has give his humble servant to proclaim.

Part of my blessing came in the person of Reverend Gabriel Hardeman, one of the most talented singers/musicians/songwriters I have had the pleasure of meeting in the ministry. He is a Grammy Award winning artist and just happens to be an A.M.E. minister and a classmate of mine from the institute. The Rev. Lanxton Washington, another of my classmates from the institute, brought the evening's prayer in an extremely powerful fashion, establishing the tone for the night.

Just before Annual Conference in May, Rev. Hardeman was stricken with an extremely rare lung disease that almost brought him home to the Father.

It turns out that normally he practices his new ensemble at the church where the revival was being held on Thursdays. Some one forgot to tell him there was a revival this week, so he arrived on schedule for practice. Instead of coming back at the conclusion of the revival, he sat down at the piano and added a musical background to the night that was both unexpected and heart felt. Rev. Hardeman still is on the road to recovery, but just to hear him play and sing again was a blessing.

Then he blessed me by telling me the sermon was just what he needed at this moment in his life. And if REv. Hardeman and Rev Washington were not enough movement of the spirit, in walks Rev. Johnny Waller, another friend of mine who I have not seen for months. He was bringing his wife to practice. Turns out she is one of the singers in Rev. Hardman's ensemble. Rev. Johnny decided to stop and catch a minute of the word, since he was in the area anyway. Then to both of our surprises, he realized he know the person preaching. That was blessing number 3.

There still are blessings yet to be realized for the Lord has laid on my heart there will be a healing before the revival concludes. Whether it will happen in its entirity at the revival or whether the healing only will begin at the revival I do not know. Neither do I know whether it is spiritual or physical, only that God has touched my heart to say a healing will occur.

Tomorrow we will conclude with Part III of the Jesus Makeover, titled, "Jesus Joy." and we claim the healing now in the name of Jesus and pray that satan will not get in the tape this time around.

Thursday night, the theme was "Hard Pressed, But Pressing On," I hope enough of it survived the tape malfunction for you to follow along, if not I will try to do a little bridge work from memory.

God bless all who have joined with us for this online revival. You do not have to write a note if God has written upon your heart. You can hear Thursday night's message by Clicking Here

-- Anonymous, October 19, 2000

Rev. Fisher after hearing your sermon I was doubly excited about going to church this sunday. So that I could tell the congregation about the revival and give the web address so that they could tune in on the internet. Or perhaps the Pastor could tape it for those who do not have access to the internet. I usually take the Greyhound bus to church for my daughters car cannot make it over the mountain passes so we take the bus. It is a four hour ride each way, when the bus is on time. Anyway I have been praying and adopting your theme "Jesus is on my mind" and friday morning I get a call from a friend who is going to the town where my AME church is, she will give me a ride. So it will not take that long to get there. And when we have our testimony time in church, I am going to tell everyone the good work that God is doing through your ministry. And how God has not forgotten us AME's who do not live in the big cities on the east coast. He is making a way for us to also be revitalized, and reborn in him. I hope all my brothers and sisters in Christ will listen to these powerful sermons for I do believe that God is speaking to all of us through Rev. Fisher. On this discussion board we discuss everything from pornography, to ministerial salaries. But it is not often we can discuss a sermon and the word of Christ. This online ministry is also about equipping all the saints to go out and evangelize. We know the stats for how many people die from drunk driving every minute, how many die from breast cancer, how many die from heart disease every minute. But we as christians also need to be concerned about how many die every minute without knowing Christ. This revival reminds us of our duty to love one another and to tell others about the love of Christ. If you want a healing experience that you can share with others, I invite you to listen to these sermons. I have seen the spiritual growth in myself in just two days. Sunday at church, Wayman Chapel AME in Billings, Montana, Pastor James Defoe, Presiding Elder Ellis Casson in the fifth District under the annointing healing power Of Bishop John Bryant, I will share the good news because Rev. Fisher shared it with me. Rev. Denise Rogers

-- Anonymous, October 20, 2000

I have just finished listening to Rev. Fisher's sermon "Jesus On My Mind". Not bad, not bad at all!!! I too, have no desire to be like Mike or any other irresponsible celebrity icon figure. The text from Phillipians was especially uplifting and Rev.'s exegesis was icing on the cake. Now the funny thing about Fisher's sermon is this: If you were visiting from some planet like say Alpha Centuri and listened to John's sermon and then surfed over to the website of H. Beecher Hicks [Sr. Pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in WashDC] and heard one of his sermons he [it?] would find NO denominational distinction in delivery, style and substance. Both parsons excel at what they do best, proclaim the Gospel of Christ. AMEN!!

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2000

Revival Synopsis

Rather than my trying to sum up something I really only become fully aware of by listening to the tapes, I instead will directly lift and share the opinions of the host Pastor, Rev. Raymond A. Hill, who delivered a day by day journal of his impressions of the revival on his web site.

This summary was drawn from the Emmanual A.M.E. web site at http ://members.aol.com/naphshi/churchpages/mensrevival.htm

Revival Hightlights

The first night of the men's revival started off with a bang!!

Rev John came out of the shoot on fire, and the congregation responded to the fanning of the flame.

Rev. John took as his topic; 'Jesus on My Mind', from Philippians 2:1-13. It was great to see the Spirit move through this man of God as he broke the bread of life.

Here is a recording of Wednesday night's service http://www.ame- today.com/revival10-18.ram

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Thursday night continued where Wednesday left off. As Rev. John put itSatan was not happy with what was going on, so he tried to throw a few monkey wrenches in the works. But God blessed in His usual mannerusing the monkey wrenches for part of the blessing!!!

Rev. Gabriel Hardeman usually has his group practicing at Emmanuel on Thursday night, but he was not informed that there was a revival. So when he showed up we had to ask that he wait until the service was concluded. He did, and volunteered to play for the services. This added such a wonderful flavor to the revival. People pay plenty for a world class musician, but God brings one to our door for free.

Rev. John powered up with a song, "Keep Still, God will Fight the Battle", than launched in an expository sermon on Philippians 3:7- 21: "Hard Pressed but Pressing On". We were all blessed. Here is a recording of Thursday night's sermon: http://www.ame-today.com/revival10- 19.ram

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Friday Rev. John finished with 'Jesus Joy', and what a joyous time it was. Coming from the fourth chapter of Philippians, he emphasized the deep down joy that only Jesus could give; a joy built on the constancy of Jesus in our lives, and His constant goodness and blessings.

As promised, the Lord showed up in a special way on this night. He instructed Rev. John to anoint and pray for all who came to the altar. There were no fireworks, now throwing down of crutches, now flashes of light, but even a day later I still have the sense of anticipation regarding what God is going to in the lives of those who came to the altar. It as an awesome service.

Praise God for His blessing His people for service.

(Due to a malfunction, and the Lord's will, there is no recording of this service) Pastor Ray

You can email Rev. Hill at naphshi@hotmail.com

Emmanuel A.M.E. Church can be found online at http://my.websitenow.c om/emmanuelshouts

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2000

Clearly you are all wrong. Duh!

-- Anonymous, February 20, 2002