Rain fell in drenching torrents, blowing leaves and debris across the cold, farm landscape. The sun setting below the horizon made the dark, ominous clouds seem even more threatening. Thunder crashed; the following lightning revealed the barren fields. It was early in winter of 1917, and a half-Cherokee woman was walking determinedly across the farmland of southeastern Oklahoma. Claudius Roberts had been called out of her home by a panic-stricken neighbor because the doctor had announced that his ailing son was close to death. “Please, come pray for my boy, Sister Roberts,” he’d pleaded. House calls had become a burden of her faith.

Claudius Roberts believed firmly in the power of prayer to a God who heals the sick. She went out on that cold, rain-swept night seven months pregnant with her fourth child, believing in a God who would keep her safe, in a God who is the Healer. As Claudius approached the heavy, barbed-wire fence that separated her home from the neighbors, she prayed that she would reach the young boy in time. The gate was broken, and it stuck tight. Even though heavy with child, she lifted up a piece of barbed wire, pressed her foot down on the wire below it, and crawled through the fence.

As suddenly as it had begun, the storm stopped raging, and, in the quiet night, Claudius “felt the Spirit of the Lord hovering hear.” God was speaking to her: the child she carried in her womb “was a special child that would have God’s anointing upon him.” On that dark night, as she made her way to the neighbor’s home, Claudius made a promise to God. If He would heal the neighbor’s sick child, she would dedicate the baby in her womb to the Lord as Hannah had dedicated Samuel. (See 1 Samuel 1:11.)

As she neared the sick child’s bed in a spirit of prayer, Claudius felt the power of the Holy Spirit fall upon that small room. Claudius prayed for healing, and the little boy was healed instantly and completely! From that day forward, she knew that God had anointed her unborn child, who would be dedicated in service to Him.

Shortly after the one-year honeymoon/mission trip, Louise discovered that she was expecting her first child. Even though missionary work would always be their hearts’ desire, the Sumralls decided to settle down in the United States for a while. They moved to Springfield, Missouri, where their first son, Frank, was born in 1946.

Because the war in Europe was finally over, Lester made a much welcomed trip back to England. There, he was joyously reunited with Howard Carter and personally viewed the devastation of the bombed countries of England and France. It was while ministering in Europe that he heard the Lord begin to speak to him about a new work of ministry.

Lester realized that the way to reach most countries for Christ was through their large cit­ies. In many countries, 60 percent of the popu­lation resided in the major metropolitan areas. The Lord gave Lester a clear vision of reaching countries with evangelistic centers set up in cit­ies like Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Manila, Philippines.

Roberts Liardon tells us that when he returned home back to Louise and Frank in the United States, he excitedly shared his ideas with the mission boards of sev­eral denominations, but none of them thought that his vision was possible. They deemed the task too large and far-reaching and therefore withheld their support.

Not possible?! What is not possible with God? Lester was amazed and frustrated by the lack of faith in those who could not catch his vision. Perhaps, it just wasn’t God’s time yet….

Why South Bend, Indiana?

There was a burning in Lester’s heart to reach the lost of the world, but the Lord’s call came loud and clear from an unexpected place. A small church in South Bend, Indiana, prayed and believed that God had called Lester Sumrall to pastor their congregation.

The Australians wanted tourists, not beggars! Two hundred pounds! As they lined up to meet with the customs officers, a young man just ahead of Lester was refused entrance to Australia because he had only seventy-five American dollars. He was to be sent back to the United States on the next boat!

When it was Lester’s turn, the customs officer asked Lester how much money he had, and his vague reply was that he didn’t have much. Then, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Lester humbly replied, “I am going around the world to preach the gospel to those who have never accepted Christ as their Savior. I am going to Java, Singapore, China, Manchuria, Korea, and Japan, and the Lord will provide.”

While Lester prayed silently, the officers spoke among themselves and then made their decision. They were going to let him enter the country. What rejoicing—God’s hand was supernaturally present in his circumstances! After docking, Lester was met by the pastor of Richmond Temple, who had a much-awaited letter from Howard Carter for him.

Roberts Liardon tells us that Lester was to meet Howard there in Sydney, Australia, a few days later. It had been five months since their only meeting in Arkansas! On January 1, 1935, Lester watched as Howard’s ship sailed into the har­bor and docked. Looking for the somewhat familiar face, Lester finally found him in the customs office. Lester looked forward to beginning their ministry adventure!

At the end of 1961, a young German Bible student named Reinhard Bonnke was walking in the streets of Clapham, London, with a few hours to pass before his trip home. He was en route to Germany from the Bible College of Wales in Swansea, where he was training for the minis­try. Looking at the homes around him, Bonnke suddenly recognized the name of George Jeffreys posted outside of a castle-like house.

Roberts Liardon tells us that Bonnke knocked excitedly on the door and inquired whether he might see Jeffreys, whom he knew to be the greatest English evangelist since John Wesley. The housekeeper was about to turn Bonnke away when Jeffreys came to the door himself and invited him in. Bonnke felt he had been “transported to the abode of an apostle.” They spoke for some time about the lost world and the widespread need for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then Jeffreys reached out and laid hands on the young man’s head. He prayed for his ministry and for the empowerment of God for evangelism. To this day, Bonnke believes that that was when he received his mighty anointing. “I now realise that was God’s true ordina­tion for me as an evangelist.”

In the latter half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, Bonnke proved to be a world evangelist, indeed, especially in Africa, where his open-air gospel campaigns attracted crowds as large as 1.5 mil­lion.86 And signs and wonders of the healing evangelist have followed.

And so, George Jeffreys’ mantle remains most active through the anointing of Kensington Temple and the ministry of evangelist Reinhard Bonnke who spreads the powerful gospel message as Jeffreys did in the first half of the twentieth century.

Jeffreys’ lifelong friend and Revival Party associate Albert Edsor said of Jeffreys after his death.

To the end of his earthly pilgrimage he was engaged in seeking those who were sick in soul and praying for the sick in body. Time alone will reveal the magnitude of his mission and the extent of his powerful influence for God, and history will be kinder to him than those of his critics and contemporaries who misjudged him and what he stood for. As time rolls on, his spiritual stature will be enhanced, and the stamp of his integrity and sincerity in his God-given and God-honored ministry will be appreciated the more.”

And that is how George Jeffreys is remembered today.

In 1934 and 1935, Jeffreys was invited to hold revival campaigns in Switzerland and Palestine, and the events were successful in convert­ing thousands to Christ. The following year, Jeffreys founded an orga­nization called the World Revival Crusade to handle the financial re­sponsibilities of his overseas ministry. In actuality, he used it to manage the financial responsibilities of all of his crusades. The purpose of the organization was to invite international members who were believers in the fourfold gospel to support Jeffreys’ ministry through prayer and financial giving. Jeffreys would be in control of the organization and ap­point his own commissioners to administrate it. Through the Crusade, he would no longer need to receive all of his financial support from the Elim headquarters.

Roberts Liardon tells us that E. J. Phillips, however, was not pleased with the new arrangement. He felt that Jeffreys had placed a wedge between himself and the Elim movement. Because Jeffreys would no longer depend on the Elim Four­square Gospel Alliance for his income or for direction in the campaign ministries, Phillips was certain that he was moving toward a split and developing the Crusade as an alternative organization. But Jeffreys in­sisted that he would continue to be an evangelist and the spiritual father of the Elim movement.

Generally, Jeffreys had kept himself separate from many of the ad­ministrative tasks of the denomination. He was always too busy conduct­ing revival campaigns. That began to change in 1936, when he suddenly became involved in the denomination’s finances. At the time, Phillips had just married and was battling tuberculosis, so he was not at the of­fice headquarters.

The revival spread like wildfire, and one of the areas that was most affected was Maesteg, the hometown of George and Stephen Jeffreys.

Roberts and his workers visited the area on three separate occasions and brought more than five thousand people into the kingdom of God. On November 20, 1904, the Reverend Glasnant Jones stood before the Siloh congregation and preached a message of salvation. Prior to this date, George and Stephen had attended church on occasion. That morning, they experienced a dynamic conversion and were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Immediately afterward, they started serving the Lord at the church in any way they could. To the dismay of the Jeffreys brothers and much of Wales, the Welsh revival lasted only two years before it fell into decline.

Roberts Liardon tells us that the Welsh Revival was fading, but a group of young men in Maesteg were not willing to let go of the power of God. They didn’t believe He would birth such a sweeping revival, only to let it end so quickly. So, they formed a small prayer band and called themselves the “Children of the Revival.” On their knees, they beseeched God to send His power. In the decades to come, their prayers would be answered in ways beyond anything they had imagined. While the Welsh Revival was winding down, the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, California, was moving forward at full speed. In addition to repentance, the Azusa Revival emphasized the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Soon, the work of the Holy Spirit that had begun in Azusa Street swept into Europe. A Norwegian pastor by the name of Thomas Ball (T. B.) Barratt sailed for the United States in 1905 to raise funds for his Methodist mission in Oslo. Though he stayed for over a year, the visit was a financial failure. As he prepared to return to Norway in Fall 1906, he heard about the Azusa Street Revival and read the first issue of their newspaper, Apostolic Faith. After corresponding with them, he attended a small meeting in New York and was baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Roberts Liardon tells us that all denominations crowd the hall—Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, United Presbyterians, Primitive Methodists, Methodist Protestant, Pentecostal Nazarene, with many others, may be seen among those at the altar seeking Divine aid. Several hundred seekers after God crowd the platform daily.…Doctors, lawyers, financiers, merchants, professional men of all types and caliber. Christian Scientists—including practitioners—nurses, and head nurses from the hospitals and sanitariums, all seeking soul salvation or bodily healing. It is a sight that astounds the onlookers to see those multitudes seeking their way to God….Beyond belief are the results.

John Sproul had fought in WWI as a young soldier. While he was on a special assignment to secure supplies in France, he and a friend were hit with mustard gas. The friend died within a day or two, but John survived—just barely. He had to have fourteen operations in the French hospital where he was admitted. Six operations were performed on his throat and eight on his lungs. Following the operations, he completely lost the ability to speak, and so many of his neck muscles were cut away that he had a hard time holding his head up.

Sproul returned to the States in constant pain, with hemorrhaging in his lungs and frequent bouts of stomach sickness or sudden unconsciousness. He traveled throughout the country trying to get medi­cal help, but his case was declared hopeless. When he returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh, the mayor, Edward Babcock, took up his cause. The country was disturbed by the lack of medical aid for wounded veter­ans, so Mayor Babcock and the local congressmen sent Sproul to Wash­ington, D.C., for special medical treatment.

When the Civil War finally ended after four long years, the United States was a wounded nation. The U.S. government decided to create a new national vision of change and expansion to encourage its citizens to look beyond the years of war to a future of hope and promise. People were enticed to move West and settle new territories. With the Home­stead Act of 1862, which supplied homesteaders with affordable federal land, and with the expansion of the railroad, families were moving by the thousands to the Midwest.

Roberts Liardon tells us that Burton Bosworth had served in the war as a Union soldier, and he and his wife, Amelia, headed out to Nebraska, where they could buy land for a cheap rate. They bought a small farm in Utica, Nebraska, and began a family.

On a frigid winter day, January 17, 1877, Amelia Bosworth gave birth to her second son, Fred Francis. The Bosworths were grateful to have another son to help build their farm. It would have brought them greater joy if they had known that this son would also touch more than one mil­lion people with the love and power of Jesus Christ.

Fred was a boy with steadfast determination. He was a hard worker who set some lofty goals, and he ultimately reached them. When he was only nine years old, Fred accompanied his father to a Civil War reunion at Fort Kearney, Nebraska, to enjoy the brass band and military ceremo­nies. A lover of music from his earliest days, Fred was mesmerized by the music flowing from the decorated stage. As the crowd cheered and sang patriotic songs, Fred inched forward to watch the cornet players. Fascinated by the instrument, Fred was determined to possess his own cornet and to learn how to play it. He had a yearning for music deep within his soul.

Roberts Liardon tells us that the Holy Spirit works the same way with you in the world of the Spirit. When you lean upon the Holy Spirit in your praying, diversities of tongues will come through you and your tone will change as well as your utterances.

Roberts Liardon tells us that the Holy Spirit has expressions too, folks. That’s why monotone praying in tongues usually puts you in a dead end street. It may work for you a little, but it won’t do much for you because you’ve contained it. You need to begin to allow the Spirit of God to manifest diversities of tongues through you privately and at times publicly

I have heard some people say, “Well, tongues is to speak to God with.” (1 Cor 14:2) That’s true, but the Bible says that there are diversities of tongues, which means different kinds of tongues for different things. (1 Cor 12:28) If all you do is limit your tongues to just speaking to God or building yourself up, you’ll never get into the depths of what God has for you.

Roberts Liardon tells us that in 1 Corinthians 14:13, Paul writes: “Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.” Interpret what? What he prays in the unknown tongue.

This verse does not pertain to the gift of tongues and the gift of the interpretation of tongues for public assembly. The apostle Paul is writing here about interpreting your own personal prayer language.

How do you receive an interpretation of your personal prayer language? The same way that you receive an interpretation of tongues in a public setting; through the operation of the gift of interpretation of tongues.

Roberts Liardon tells us that the first thing you have to do when you’re praying in tongues is make time for the interpretation to come back to you. Some people have never had their prayer language interpreted back to them by the Holy Spirit because they have never made time for the interpretation to come.

The Lord may speak to you in great detail about what you’ve been praying about, or He may just let you know the gist of it. At times an interpretation will be available, but if you don’t give time for it, it won’t come.