This story took place at Oak Grove Assembly of God in Springfield, MO, on
February 21, 2010:
I got to tag-team preach with our Young Adult Pastor, Luke, that night. We
covered John chapter 6, the main verse being verse 29: "Jesus answered, 'The
work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.'"
After the message was over, we opened up the altars; we didn't know what
else to do! That was at about 7:15, and most of the people were gone by
7:45. But there was this Jewish guy on the back row, just sitting there,
observing. We knew he was Jewish because he was wearing a yamukkah, but we
had no idea why he was there. Pastor Morein, our Senior Pastor, and his
wife, Melissa, went back to introduce themselves, and they just started
talking. As is our custom, the rest of the staff just kind of hung out,
waiting to see what the plans were for dinner.
Then it started getting good. At 8:25 (I checked the clock), Pastor called
all of us back to where they were sitting. He introduced us to the Jewish
man, whose name was Itai (E-tie). He explained that Itai was a rabbi from
St. Louis visiting Springfield to gather research for his doctoral
dissertation. However, over the past 3 weeks, he had been visiting
Pentecostal churches just to see what we were all about. Itai was ready to
pray the Sinner's Prayer, but he wasn't quite sure that he believed that
Jesus is the Messiah. He said, "I'll pray the prayer, and if faith rises up
in me, I will believe." A very humble, sincere man—awesome guy.
So we prayed the prayer, all of us repeating after Pastor Morein. When we
said, "Amen" and opened our eyes, Itai, who had been sitting in the pew
right in front of mine, was on his face, shaking and sobbing. This went on
for about ten minutes, until he leaned up and said in desperation, "Somebody
help me—I've never experienced this before! What's going on?" So Pastor
prayed for him, praying for peace and that Jesus would reveal Himself to
Itai.
Another few minutes went by; we were about 30 minutes in now. All of a
sudden, this JEWISH RABBI from St. Louis broke out praying in tongues—and
nobody had prayed that he would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's
when we all went NUTS! We were running around the sanctuary, shouting,
dancing…crazy stuff! When Itai finally sat up, Pastor asked him how he was
feeling, and he said, "Like Jeremiah said, ' a fire shut up in my bones…'"
Oh, it was overwhelming! Later he said, "How do you guys NOT TELL THIS???"
It's not over yet. About 45 minutes in, Pastor was hungry, as were the rest
of us. We wanted to pray for Itai, bless him, and take the man out to eat.
So we gathered in a circle around him to lay hands on him, but he didn't
want to stay in the middle of the circle. Instead, he walked up to Pastor
Luke and I, who had done the preaching, as I said before. He laid his hands
on our chests, and he started to bless US and prophesy over US. In the
middle of this, he quoted, WORD-FOR-WORD, Acts 1:8: "And you will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That's the
NIV, I think, but Itai quoted it in KJV. He prayed it over Luke and me, as
if he were pulling the promises of Scripture effortlessly out of his memory
bank.
Our Children's Pastor, Pastor Christin, took off running to find an extra
Bible. While she was gone, Pastor Morein was explaining the need to repent
and be baptized according to Acts 2:38-39. Itai had never heard of this
before. We were confused, so Pastor's youngest daughter, Crissy, said, "Dad,
show him Acts 1:8, the verse he just quoted!" Itai read it, and just stared
at us—he was confused. I finally spoke up: "Itai, have you ever read that
before?"
"I'm in rabbinical school. In rabbinical school, we're not allowed to read
the New Testament. I have NEVER read this before."
I said, "Itai, you just quoted that verse over me and Luke five minutes
ago!"
"I don't remember saying that."
WHAT?! How crazy is that? But we're not done yet…
Itai paused. He started to ask a question. He paused again. He said, "I want
to ask a question, and I don't know what I'm going to do if you say 'No,'
but…in rabbinical school, if you want to follow a rabbi, you have to be
baptized in the name of that rabbi. But to be baptized in the Name of the
Great Rabbi…!"
Immediately, our Facilities Manager, Aaron, took off and turned the
baptistery on. He didn't turn the heaters on, there was no time for that.
Some of the students in the youth group were there, and their mother sent
them to the kitchen to start boiling water to dump into the baptismal tank
as it filled up. It didn't work—that water was ice cold! They found some
hospital scrubs lying around, so Pastor and Itai each put on a pair. We got
out the video camera, and we recorded the world's fastest water baptism
EVER. Pastor said:
"Baseduponyourconfessionoffaith,IbaptizeyouintheNameoftheFather,andoftheSon,andoftheHolySpirit!"
And he dunked Itai forward, pulled him up, and practically threw him out of
that tank! Haha! Bless God!
Let me just say this to wrap this up. We left the church that night at
11:30. We spent over three hours with this JEWISH RABBI because he was
encountering God in a way more radical than any of us in the room had ever
personally witnessed. It was amazing! At one point, Itai said, "I've spent
my whole life memorizing and following over 600 rules and laws because I
love God with my whole heart. But until THIS MOMENT, I never knew that GOD
loves ME!" It was at that point that I broke down and wept. Imagine—Itai is
over 30 years old! And he has finally encountered the love of God. He will
never be the same!
Let me tell you, friend, God is REAL. He's THAT REAL. He will stop
everything to show up in your life, to show you that you matter to Him—that
HE LOVES YOU with a love that you might as well not resist. God will NEVER
stop loving you, He will NEVER stop pursuing you—just give in! Let Him have
you! Encounter Him—let Him give you life! It's like Jesus said in John 6,
the passage that Luke and I covered that night—He's the bread of life (John
6:35). Take Him in.
Remembering Revelation 19:10, read this story in faith.
Tyler Crowder
Youth Pastor, Oak Grove Assembly of God
Springfield , MO
2/26/10
P.S.: I added all the names that I did, not so that those individuals may
receive credit for the role they played in this story, but so that you, the
reader, can know that there were numerous witnesses to this account—about
25-30, if I'm not mistaken. Let that build your faith too.
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