Wimber & Me: What Rubbed Off

June 3, 2014 | by | Being "Missional", Holy Spirit Ministry, Practical Living, Uncategorized, Vineyard

As I mentioned in my previous two posts, I don’t know quite how it happened but John and Carol Wimber took a liking to my wife and I. For some crazy reason that to this day I’ll never quite understand, they treated us like family. We ended up spending a lot of time hanging out around their pool with their family and friends. These moments in the “living room” of their lives impacted me more than being in conferences with him. Something about kingdom living that can’t be taught in books or by attending classes rubbed off on us without us realizing it was happening. It’s like John said, it was “more caught than taught”.

Maybe the most influential Wimberistic (I just made that up) to rub off on me was how to be “naturally supernatural”. When I first met John I was turned-off by the theatrics and hype surrounding some extreme and excessive varieties of charismatic ministry I had been exposed to. Like so many who get burned or become disillusioned I threw the baby out with the bath water. I became gun-shy of the Spirit. But in Wimber I saw something different. He wasn’t into wowing the crowd. There was no hype, weirdness or manipulation. When he ministered he was relaxed, comfortable, and real, always remaining normal and that appealed to my down-to-earth sensibilities. John called it being “naturally supernatural”.

He tagged ministry times “clinics”. It wasn’t your typical audience watching the ‘man of God’ do his thing. He conducted a spiritual classroom where he would demystify things and explain to us how the Spirit worked, giving us eyes to “see what the Father was doing” and giving practical instruction so that we could ‘get to play’ as well. This wasn’t only refreshing it was revolutionary! I got hooked!

I followed John around like a puppy dog as he prayed for others. I took note that he was the same natural, normal, relaxed, friendly person during ministry time as he was during dinnertime! I learned that I didn’t have to put on some spiritual persona, change the tone of my voice when I prayed, get all dramatic or do anything for effect. And I guess the biggest and most freeing discovery in all this was that I could be myself. I didn’t have to perform or mimic some superstar who I couldn’t possibly be. It took the pressure off. I could respond to the promptings of the Spirit in my own natural, normal way and God would still show up! That was huge! My response was, “I can do that! I want to do that!” I was off and running doing the stuff and thanks to John I haven’t stopped…

Why was learning from Wimber how to be naturally supernatural such a big deal? Well two reasons really: It got me past that negative charismatic stereotype that had left such a bad taste in my mouth and back out on the playing field. And it gave me a way of exposing my rather skeptical, secularized family, friends and neighbors, whose only grid for the supernatural is Hollywood fantasy and weirdness, to God’s loving and healing presence in a way that’s neither shocking nor embarrassing to them. For many it’s been the start of a faith journey of their own.

Thanks John for your influence…

 

 

As I mentioned in my previous two posts, I don’t know quite how it happened but John and Carol Wimber took a liking to my wife and I. For some crazy reason that to this day I’ll never quite understand, they treated us like family. We ended up spending a lot of time hanging out around their pool with their family and friends. These moments in the “living room” of their lives impacted me more than being in conferences with him. Something about kingdom living that can’t be taught in books or by attending classes rubbed off on us without us realizing it was happening. It’s like John said, it was “more caught than taught”.

Maybe the most influential Wimberistic (I just made that up) to rub off on me was how to be “naturally supernatural”. When I first met John I was turned-off by the theatrics and hype surrounding some extreme and excessive varieties of charismatic ministry I had been exposed to. Like so many who get burned or become disillusioned I threw the baby out with the bath water. I became gun-shy of the Spirit. But in Wimber I saw something different. He wasn’t into wowing the crowd. There was no hype, weirdness or manipulation. When he ministered he was relaxed, comfortable, and real, always remaining normal and that appealed to my down-to-earth sensibilities. John called it being “naturally supernatural”.

He tagged ministry times “clinics”. It wasn’t your typical audience watching the ‘man of God’ do his thing. He conducted a spiritual classroom where he would demystify things and explain to us how the Spirit worked, giving us eyes to “see what the Father was doing” and giving practical instruction so that we could ‘get to play’ as well. This wasn’t only refreshing it was revolutionary! I got hooked!

I followed John around like a puppy dog as he prayed for others. I took note that he was the same natural, normal, relaxed, friendly person during ministry time as he was during dinnertime! I learned that I didn’t have to put on some spiritual persona, change the tone of my voice when I prayed, get all dramatic or do anything for effect. And I guess the biggest and most freeing discovery in all this was that I could be myself. I didn’t have to perform or mimic some superstar who I couldn’t possibly be. It took the pressure off. I could respond to the promptings of the Spirit in my own natural, normal way and God would still show up! That was huge! My response was, “I can do that! I want to do that!” I was off and running doing the stuff and thanks to John I haven’t stopped…

Why was learning from Wimber how to be naturally supernatural such a big deal? Well two reasons really: It got me past that negative charismatic stereotype that had left such a bad taste in my mouth and back out on the playing field. And it gave me a way of exposing my rather skeptical, secularized family, friends and neighbors, whose only grid for the supernatural is Hollywood fantasy and weirdness, to God’s loving and healing presence in a way that’s neither shocking nor embarrassing to them. For many it’s been the start of a faith journey of their own.

Thanks John for your influence…