A Storefront Church in Chicago
[Adventures in Faith: Chicago; 1990] Tom and I visited Latoya’s storefront Pentecostal church in Chicago. Our lives were changed!
From Osaka to Los Angeles
Soon it would be my time to leave Japan. But I was so poor that I didn’t have enough money for the airplane ticket.
Out of nowhere, a distant acquaintance called. He knew nothing of my situation. With no prompting from me, he offered me a plane ticket to Los Angeles!
This was a lovely experience of Providence.
In just a few days, with ticket in-hand, I was at Osaka airport. I got on the plane and flew to LAX.
When I arrived, my friend Tom McKerrin was at the airport to meet me.
We spent a few days with his family. Then we boarded a Greyhound Bus with a destination in the Midwest.
To the Midwest
We were riding the bus for what seemed like forever. It seemed like we had to transit at a dozen different bus stops.
One of our major objectives in the U.S. was to meet my friend Latoya Briggs in Chicago and go with her to her storefront Pentecostal church.
Latoya was a friend and a Woman of God. I had met her back in Kobe in Japan. She worked as a model.
She was the person who introduced me to the Pentecostal movement.
The bus brought us as far as Wisconsin. We visited my family in the small town of Farmersburg.
Then we bought a $300 car, made arrangements with Latoya, and drove to Chicago.
In Chicago
We met Latoya at a Walgreens in Chicago. Then she led us to her church.
Under previous ownership, the building might have been a small department store, but in poor condition.
Then the church bought it and, with modest changes, converted it into a Pentecostal church.
There were perhaps two hundred people present. They were kind and gracious.
In the front, singers and musicians led the congregational singing. And their singing was electrifying!
They weren’t just mouthing words. No, they sang like they actually believed the words of their songs. They were there to praise God.
They didn’t go to church to fulfill some obligation and then leave as quickly as possible.
The preaching was electrifying! The preacher was not only well versed in the Bible, but he preached with power and conviction.
I’m not sure how long his message took, as I was completely taken up into his message and I lost track of time. It might have been an hour. Maybe more.
Yet nobody was looking at their watches or showing signs of impatience. People were there because they wanted to hear the living Word of God preached.
Afterwards, people said he preached with unction. They said the anointing of God was upon him. I saw him as having the Gift of Prophecy.
Here in this storefront church in inner city Chicago, I was seeing before my very eyes the things I had been reading about in the Bible, back in Japan.
I was in the right place. And I was ready.
The Altar Call
At the end of the service, the preacher invited people to come forward.
Some people came forward to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
Two or three church leaders gathered around each person. They guided the person to accept Jesus Christ, right then and there.
People became Christians, right before my very eyes.
These church leaders were exercising the Gift of Evangelist!
Other people came forward to be delivered from demonic infestation.
Two or three church leaders gathered around each person. They prayed spiritual warfare prayers.
They recalled the limitless power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. They claimed the power and authority he has given his disciples.
They commanded the demon to tell them its name. And it did.
They spoke to the demon by name, commanding it to leave in the name of Jesus.
These church leaders had the Boldness of the Apostles!
As the demons left, some people fell to the ground. Other people shouted a hideous scream. Still other people vomited awful-looking green slime.
After all that, the afflicted person was at peace.
My friend Latoya called this the ministry of Deliverance.
The third thing people could come forward for was baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Tom and I looked at each other. This was it. This is what we had read about in the Bible. It was what we had discussed. What we had dreamed of.
We walked the aisle to the front.
Two or three church leaders gathered around each of us.
They began praying over Tom and me. They laid hands upon our shoulders and heads. They prayed with power and conviction.
They embodied the Power of God. Never in my life have I been prayed for with such intensity.
Even now, as I write this more than 30 years later, I’m weeping with joy over this extraordinary experience.
After the leaders had prayed for me for a while, they directed me to pray. They told me to pray out loud. So I did. I began praying in English.
Then after a while, without my being aware of it, I had switched to praying in Japanese.
Then after another while, without my being aware of it, I was praying in some other language.
The Men of God stopped. They leaned in and listened intently. They exercised the Gift of Discernment. They told me I was speaking in Tongues.
Afterwards, I thanked them profusely.
They responded by telling me to thank God, not them. And they walked away.
What those Men of God did for me wasn’t about them at all. They saw it as availing of God’s power, not their own power.
Not in any other church setting, before or since, have I witnessed such humility among the leaders.
This storefront church was the real thing.
Looking back, I wish we had abandoned our dream of returning to Japan. I wish we had settled right there in Chicago.
I wish we would have spent years absorbing everything we could from these Servants of God at the storefront Pentecostal church.
But the LORD God had other plans …
ADVENTURES IN FAITH
NOTE. Names, dates, and locations may have been changed.
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