THE RIVER AT TAMPA BAY HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
At Summer Campmeeting in the Sun Dome in Tampa, July of 1996, Pastor
Rick Shelton from St Louis, spoke a word from the Lord to Adonica and
myself. The Lord showed Pastor Rick a church in the Sun Dome – our
church. At that time we were not interested in starting any church. We
were very busy with our traveling ministry, spending approximately 46
weeks of the year on the road. Sometimes we spent as many as 13 weeks
in meetings, out on the road, before coming home for a few days off. A
church was not in our plan, but it was in God's plan.
We did not think about it again until we went on a short vacation for
our wedding anniversary in the first week of October 1996. The Lord
began to deal with me about a Sunday church service. We knew that God
wanted us to have an auditorium for some meetings, but we were thinking
that we would use it for some revival meetings, from time to time. When
the Lord spoke to us about a regular service, we tried to talk Him into
a Saturday or a Monday, but He wouldn't hear of it! The Lord told us,
"I want Sundays back!"
We had tens of thousands of people
who were touched by our ministry in the central Florida area over the
previous three years and many of them were not attending any of the
local churches. We knew this because we would bump into them at malls
and restaurants on Sundays and we would ask them why they weren't in
church and they would tell us that it was because they could not find a
Holy Ghost church. When you have been touched by revival, it is hard to
sit in a dead church. The Lord told us, "Go get your babies!" Our
"babies" were all the people who had been saved, and all those who had
come back to the Lord, under our ministry and who were hungry for God.
We did not want people who were already committed to another church, we
wanted those who were had been touched by revival and who were hungry
for God. There are about 2.5 million people in the Tampa Bay/St
Pete/Clearwater area. We need many good churches in Tampa Bay so that
we can impact this region with the power of God!
Adonica
asked me if we could wait a year to prepare for the role of pastor and
I said, "Okay," but as my feet touched the ground in Tampa when we
arrived home, the Lord said to me, "Do it now!" So we did. On the first
Sunday in December – December 1, 1996 – we started The River at Tampa
Bay. In that first service, we had 575 people!
We did not
stop our traveling ministry – we continued to travel during the week -
but we made a commitment to not miss one Sunday morning service for the
first year. I had to spend two weeks in Hong Kong that year and so I
flew back to Tampa on the weekend, halfway through the meetings, to
preach at The River and then flew straight back to Hong Kong to preach
the second week! We are committed to The River at Tampa Bay! The first
year, we had no nursery and no children's church – the children sat
through the services. We wanted everybody to get "Riverized" before
they started ministering in the church. We want revival in every part
of this ministry and you cannot give what you don't have. Religion and
tradition won't cut it – we must have the freedom and liberty of the
Holy Spirit in every aspect of what we do! By the time we started River
Kids Children's Church, those kids sure knew how to worship God! They
were so filled with the Holy Spirit. Even now we encourage the children
to enter into God's presence and allow Him to touch them and fill them,
and He does.
We are a local church with a vision to touch the
world! Our heart for The River at Tampa Bay is that we would have a
church that stays hungry for God and open to the move of the Holy
Spirit. We want to see anointed praise and worship, anointed preaching,
and anointed demonstrations of the Holy Ghost and power! We do not want
to be people pleasers – we want to be God pleasers! In the process,
many people have been, are being, and will continue to be powerfully
touched and changed by the love of God and the power of God.
Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and
accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible,
intelligent people), 16 Making the very most of the time [buying up
each opportunity], because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be
vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly
grasping what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with
wine, for that is debauchery; but ever be filled and stimulated with
the [Holy] Spirit. 19 Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, offering praise with voices [and instruments] and
making melody with all your heart to the Lord. Ephesians 5:15-19 AMP
Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it;
except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain. Psalms
127:1 AMP
The Lord supernaturally blessed us with our current
facility five years ago and as we move into this new phase, preparing
to "rise and build," we ask you, our River Family, to stand with us and
lift up our hands. You are not here by accident and neither are we –
God has called you here and He has called us here for such a time as
this. Together we will do it!
Recent:
Righteous Now
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP
“Therefore if any man be in Christ…” What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are baptized into Christ when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The moment
Defeating Strife
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
Faith Facts
Faith is persistent
Luke 11:9-10 AMP
So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
John 16:24 AMP
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Faith is single-minded
James 1:5-8 AMP
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the