Pastor Woody’s Testimony

“After a lifetime of making fun of tongues, healing, prophecy and deliverance, I was about to operate in all of them!”

— Pastor Woody Butler

January is the anniversary of when God landed on me in 1995. I have yet to recover. I was a Southern Baptist pastor with little time or interest in the gifts of the Spirit. It did not fit my business plan. I had earned my master's degree and I was ready to be on tv with the biggest church in America. I was on my way when God showed up and interrupted my plans. 

I was awakened at three o'clock in the morning. I saw the red numbers on our radio clock: 3:00. That is the fourth watch; the hour Jesus came walking on the water. Anyway, I sat down in front of the tv and and it was on TBN. They were playing an old video of Rodney Howard-Browne's service at Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida. There were ten thousand people there for at ten o'clock on a week day. After watching for about 30 seconds I began to weep uncontrollably. 

I knew something was happening to me. I was then pushed to the floor and unable to move a muscle for about 45 minutes. I felt like I had a thousand pounds sitting on me! Later I learned that the Hebrew word for glory means the weightiness of God. I heard the voice of the Father on the inside for the first time. He said, "Today you have become my son and I have become your Father." When I was finally able to struggle to my feet I knew I would never be the same. 

After a lifetime of making fun of tongues, healing, prophecy and deliverance, I was about to operate in all of them! After mocking tv preachers with all my buds at seminary, He used one of them to demonstrate His power in a way that was undeniable. Ever since that night God has used Jodie and me to introduce traditional Christians to the actual power of the Holy Spirit. Over and over, He sneaks up on them like He did to me. He does not ask anyone's permission and there is no time for arguments. It just happens to you. And like Saul in Acts 9 we are left stumbling around and waiting for our assignment. 

Are you ready to have an encounter with God and live the New Testament? Let's go!

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