Last Sunday morning heaven welcomed one of the most dedicated and faithful servants I have known. Evangelist Steve Hill battled cancer for the last few years but throughout the struggle, he and his lovely wife Jeri stayed strong in their faith, continuing to serve God through their ministry, in the U.S. and around the world. There are plenty of websites and blogs you can read to give you more details about Steve’s battle and his life.

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about “what if?” What if Steve Hill had not said “yes” to the direction God had for him? How would my life have been different?

Steve’s “Yes, Lord” changed the way I live, love and serve. Think for a minute. My Facebook timeline would look a whole lot different since most of my FB friends have also been impacted by this one man’s ministry. I probably wouldn’t even have some of you as friends or acquaintances. My family was totally changed because of the Brownsville Revival in the late 1990s. Many of you know of my husband’s dramatic encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit in the altars of Brownsville Assembly of God. All of the pastoral staff from our church had travelled to witness the revival firsthand. All came back changed, renewed, revived, transformed and anointed.

The power of the Holy Spirit was poured out in our own church with many people travelling from great distances to witness this outpouring of power and repentance. My whole family, including my 2-yr-old and 4-year-old sons, experienced services which lasted late into the night, witnessed people laid out across our sanctuary, learned new worship choruses which expressed heartfelt yearning to touch the heart of God. “Enemy’s Camp” and “We Will Ride” are now worship classics, straight from the keyboard of Lindell Cooley into sanctuary platforms everywhere. Prayer teams prayed over people for hours as desperate men and women, pastors and wives, ministry leaders and laypeople, believers and non-believers urgently sought a touch from God.

This little outpouring continued for years. We had training for pastors on Friday afternoons followed by Friday Night Alive services. The chairs of our sanctuary were littered with Bibles, handouts and even shoes as people saved seats from Sunday morning to Sunday night. This transformation of the body of Christ went far beyond Pensacola and Cedar Rapids. There are few people who haven’t heard of the Brownsville Revival or its evangelist, pastor, worship leader, or youth leader. These men, and subsequently those they touched, have impacted the Body of Christ around the world.

Personally? My children grew up believing revival is “normal.” As 20-somethings, they know a church service without the power of the Holy Spirit is just a gathering, not an empowering. Those worship choruses are still beloved in our household – they bring back great memories but also spur us not to settle for cute phrases or catchy tunes. Nothing but touching the heart of God will do. I have friends around the world because I took groups of women to Brownsville for women’s conferences. Women like Dotty Schmitt, Brenda Kilpatrick and Varle Rollins are priceless mentors to me because Steve Hill said “yes, Lord.” I’m no longer satisfied with the way church used to run, the way I used to live, the concept of God I used to have. This little blog couldn’t possibly touch the many ways life as I knew it changed in the spring of 1996.

All of this because Steve Hill said “yes” to God on Father’s Day 1995 in Pensacola, Florida. Now – take a look at your own legacy. Have you said “yes” to God’s plans for you? Maybe you don’t think it really matters in the whole scheme of the universe. I’m glad Steve Hill thought differently.