Make Room

Dear Friends & Family,

I have just returned from Nairobi, a land of striking beauty lions stretching under acacia trees, zebras moving in synchronized lines, giraffes towering over the plains, impalas darting with precision, cheetahs poised with quiet intensity. Creation there feels awake.

And in many ways, so is the Church.

In six days, I spoke twelve times to nearly 7,000 people face to face and more than 15,000 joining by livestream. What I witnessed was not casual Christianity. It was hunger. Deep hunger. A longing for the tangible presence of God.

It has caused me to reflect carefully on church growth in our modern era. We have refined worship experiences. We have excellent music, dynamic preaching, thriving children’s ministries, energized youth environments, strategic leadership structures. These are good gifts. They matter. They serve.

But is there a dimension beyond excellence?

Previous generations used words that feel almost weighty now awakening, revival, outpouring, visitation. They described moments when the atmosphere seemed charged with holy interruption. When services were not merely well executed but divinely invaded. When conviction fell, repentance flowed, and joy erupted without manipulation or programming.

In the contemporary church growth conversation, we often emphasize systems, scalability, branding, and engagement metrics. Yet historically, the Church has grown most explosively where the Spirit has been allowed to interrupt.

Consider the Day of Pentecost in Acts of the Apostles. No marketing strategy. No polished program. Just wind, fire, bold proclamation, and 3,000 souls added in a single day. It was disruptive. It was supernatural. It was unmistakably God.

Globally, Pentecostal and Spirit empowered movements remain among the fastest growing expressions of Christianity. That should not surprise us. Where the Holy Spirit is welcomed as active, present, and powerful, spiritual hunger finds satisfaction.

This is not a call to abandon excellence. It is a call to redeem the time because the days are evil and to remember that excellence without presence becomes performance. Structure without fire becomes routine. Growth without glory becomes hollow.

What place do Holy Spirit interruptions have in the modern church? I would argue: a central one.

Not chaos. Not emotionalism. But space. Expectation. Yielded leadership. Moments where agenda bows to anointing.

There is a difference between a well run service and a God saturated gathering. One impresses. The other transforms.

The promise of the last days is not merely expansion but outpouring. Not simply attendance but awakening. Not just influence but infilling.

As we build, plan, and steward wisely, may we also hunger. May we pray for eruptions of grace. May we leave room for wind and fire again.

Because when the Spirit truly moves, parking lots empty into sanctuaries and sanctuaries empty into harvest fields.

“Then he said to Him, ‘If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.’ — Exodus 33:15

May the Lord’s presence be your ultimate pursuit and desire.

Blessings,
Mike