The Toronto Blessing, a term coined by British newspapers, refers to the Christian revival and associated phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church (TAV), which was renamed in 1996 to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF) and then later in 2010 renamed to Catch the Fire Toronto. It is categorized as a neo-charismaticEvangelicalChristian church and is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1] The revival impacted charismatic Christian culture through an increase in popularity and international reach and intensified criticism and denominational disputes. Criticism primarily centered around disagreements about charismatic doctrine, the Latter Rain Movement, and whether or not the physical manifestations people experienced were in line with biblical doctrine or were actually heretical practices.
The Toronto Blessing is also reported[by whom?] as having influenced the Brownsville Revival (1995– c.2000) and the Lakeland Revival (2008) that occurred later in Florida, and which included similar styles of worship, ministry and reputed supernatural manifestations.
Characteristics
Freshwind band leading worship at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship in 2008
The Toronto Blessing has become synonymous within charismatic Christian circles for terms and actions that include an increased awareness of God's love, religious ecstasy, external observances of ecstatic worship, being slain in the Spirit, uncontrollable laughter, emotional and/or physical euphoria, crying, healing from emotional wounds, healing of damaged relationships, and electric waves of the spirit.[1][2] "Holy laughter", as a result of overwhelming joy, was a hallmark manifestation,[3] and there were also some reports of instances of participants roaring like lions or making other animal noises.[4][5] Leaders and participants present in these services claim that most of these manifestations, including some people roaring like lions, were physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit's presence and power, while some Pentecostal and charismatic leaders believe these were the counterfeits of the Spirit as is mentioned in the biblical passage of 2 Thessalonians 2:9.[6][7] In December, 1994, Toronto Life Magazine declared TAV as Toronto's most notable tourist attraction for the year.[8]
The events that occurred at the Toronto Blessing are not unique in Christian history; similar events were recorded as happening within the Azusa Street revival of the early 1900s as well as in other revival movements throughout the history of Christian church movements.[9][10] The Bible also records supernatural events when people encountered God and describes lightning coming from the top of Mount Sinai in Exodus 20:18 when the 10 Commandments were given, Jewish soldiers and temple police falling down in the Garden of Gethsemane when encountering Jesus in John 18:6, Moses' face shining when descending Mount Sinai in Exodus 34:35, and a cloud of glory that appeared over the Hebrew tent of meeting in Exodus 40:34. Proponents of the Toronto Blessing point to these biblical examples as partial evidence of the activities in their meetings being legitimate.[1]
The primary speaker at these meetings for the first few months was Randy Clark, a former Baptist pastor who left his denomination and joined the Association of Vineyard Churches after a team from the Vineyard denomination ministered in his church in 1984.[11] Clark testified to being miraculously healed after a bad car accident while a teenager many years earlier.[12] This event made him believe in supernatural healing, even though at the time he was part of a denomination that believed the gifts of the Spirit were no longer part of the way God operates in the lives of Christians.[11]
Miracles and manifestations
A common element described by those in attendance at the meetings was the claim of miraculous events that occurred during the services. Some of these could be categorized as physical healings, while in other instances, people reported they had a new awareness of God's love, a new freedom from past fears, anger, and relationship problems. There were even claims of God putting gold fillings into people's teeth during the service. Some of the more common claims include the following:
More than 300 of the visitors claimed that they supernaturally received gold or silver fillings in their teeth during the meetings.
A study was conducted in 1995 that surveyed 1,000 people who visited TAV and approximately half of them reported that they felt spiritually refreshed after the meetings, close to 90% said they were "more in love with Jesus" than they had been in any other point in their lives, and 88% of married respondents stated that they were also more in love with their spouse.[13] A follow-up study conducted in 1997 also yielded similar figures from the original survey respondents.[13]
Similarities to other revival movements
The Toronto Blessing appears to share similarities with other past events where historical records report similar activities of laughter, crying, falling down, shaking and claims of miraculous healings. According to some, these events have been recorded as occurring throughout, not only the recent past, but for the approximate 2,000 years since the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ took place.[10]
Some of the events in the past few hundred years that bear these similarities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Some Christian leaders were enthusiastic about what they saw as a renewal in North American Christianity, while others saw it as heretical and spiritually dangerous.[4][16] The laughter portion of these meetings was endorsed by Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts and Pat Robertson, who said in one interview that "The Bible says in the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy."[17]
Critics referred to it as self-centered and evil and claimed that the strange manifestations were warning signs for other Christian believers to stay away. Others defended the blessing as historically rooted in earlier revivals, such as those seen by pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards, and as having positive effects in the lives of participants.[4]
In his book, Counterfeit Revival, Hank Hanegraaff claimed that the revival has done more damage than good and that the Toronto blessing was a matter of people being enslaved into altered states of consciousness where they obscure reality and enshrine absurdity. Hank Hanegraaff also stated in a 1996 Washington Post interview that, "It's nice to feel all these things, but the fact is, these feelings will wear off, and then disappointment steps in. I call it post-Holy Laughter depression syndrome."[17]
At the time of the renewal, B. J. Oropeza, then a researcher for the Christian Research Institute, compared phenomena from the Toronto meetings with phenomena from previous Western revivals. He concluded that while authentic signs of revival might be present at such meetings, ministerial leaders have a biblical responsibility to ensure that parishioners maintain orderly conduct at the gatherings and this seemed to be lacking at many of the meetings.[18]
James Beverley, a critic of the Toronto Blessing and a professor at Toronto-based Tyndale Seminary, stated that these events were a "mixed blessing", but was later quoted in 2014 as saying, "whatever the weaknesses are, they are more than compensated for by thousands and thousands of people having had tremendous encounters with God, receiving inner healings, and being renewed."[19] He also stated, "My concerns have changed a bit. I regret saying that they did not give enough attention to Jesus. I think that was too hard. The leaders and the people, they love Jesus. We all do not give enough attention to Jesus."[19]
It is also important to note that other Vineyard churches, such as Harvest Rock in Pasadena, California experienced the same manifestations as those that occurred at TAV around the same time as the events of 1994.[20]
Timeline of immediate and subsequently impacted events
1994: The Toronto Blessing began at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, when pastors John and Carol Arnott were reportedly inspired by revivals in South Africa as well as those in Argentina that were led by Claudio Freidzon.[4] They invited Randy Clark, a Vineyard pastor from St. Louis, Missouri, to minister at the church from January 20–23, 1994.[2] Randy Clark had been influenced by his own personal life experiences of miracles happening in the church he pastored,[12] as well as the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African preacher, and founder of the Rodney Howard-Browne Evangelistic Association in Louisville, Kentucky. Clark preached at TAV church over the course of 60 days, starting January 20, and the meetings continued for 6 days each week for the next 12 1/2 years. He spent 42 of those first 60 days in Canada with a few in-between trips back home to see his family.[21]
In that first revival service, there were about 120 people in attendance, and Arnott stated that most members fell on the floor "laughing, rolling, and carrying on".[4] During that first year, the church's regular attendance size reportedly tripled to 1,000 members, and meetings were held every night except on Mondays, as the revival's influence continued to spread. Reports of similar revivals emerged from Atlanta, Anaheim, and St. Louis in the United States, and from Cambodia, and Albania. It became common for visitors to carry the influence of the revival back to their home congregations where the revival would then continue within their own churches; two notable British cases in point were Holy Trinity, Brompton and Holy Trinity, Cheltenham. Other worldwide locations that became known for a Toronto Blessing style of revival include Pensacola, Florida, home of the Brownsville Revival, Bath, England, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, and Abilene, Texas.[3][22] A few months later, in May 1994, Eleanor Mumford, the wife of a Vineyard pastor who herself had attended the services at TAV, traveled to Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) in London, England where, after sharing her testimony, manifestations and activities similar to those that occurred at TAV began to also occur at HTB.[23][24] It was also recorded that members of the Newfrontiers group of churches visited Toronto, and upon their return home, revival began breaking out in their churches.[25]
1995: Charisma Magazine reported that an estimated 4,000 churches in England and another 7,000 churches in North America had been impacted by this new revival movement.[26] During this same year, Steve Hill, an Assemblies of God evangelist, who was recorded as being powerfully impacted when he attended Holy Trinity Brompton, was asked to preach at the Brownsville Assembly of God church in Pensacola, Florida. A handful of staff members of this church had also been to the services in Toronto, and had been praying for revival for several years.[21] The Brownsville Revival started on Father's Day, and as a result, reportedly led to almost a quarter of a million people being converted to Christianity.[13]
2000: The Guardian reported that 250,000 agnostics in the United Kingdom turned to a belief in Jesus through Nicky Gumbel's Alpha course."[27] Nicky Gumbel was also later recorded as being in attendance at some of the Toronto Blessing meetings.[19]
2014: 20-year anniversary conference - A special conference was held at Catch the Fire in January 2014 to commemorate the 20-year anniversary of the original Toronto Blessing.[19] Attendees stated that apologies and forgiveness were offered during this conference that brought about a closing of the rift that formed between the Vineyard and TAV during the earlier times of the movement.[19]
Continual Services - Regular services continue to be held at Catch the Fire, and attendees continue to travel from around the world to visit the church.
The peak of the Toronto Blessing's prominence in the Christian community occurred in the mid- to late-1990s. Since that time it has faded from public view, although the proponents of Discernment Ministries have suggested that these kinds of events are simply part of a wider theological cycle that has existed continually throughout modern era charismatic Movements.[28] Manifestations of the kind associated with the Toronto Blessing were also recorded in Colin Urquhart's earlier book, "When The Spirit Comes," which appeared during the 1970s and chronicled the renewals which occurred at the church in Luton, England where Urquhart was, for a time, incumbent. The phenomena associated with the charismatic renewal have been championed by such clergy as Urquhart and David Watson in Britain, as well as by countless preachers worldwide, but have also been criticized as dehumanizing and as being rooted in extreme aesthetic reactions to religious stimuli.[29]
Impact on Christian culture
The events that started in 1994 spurred many Christians hungry for deeper encounters with God to visit the church in Toronto, or attend other events around the world that were also influenced by what occurred during the Toronto Blessing.[2] Several highly successful missionaries, pastors, and itinerant ministers today attribute the growth of their organizations and their increased hunger for more of God's presence to the Toronto Blessing.[30] These include Bill Johnson, Senior Pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California,[31] Heidi and Rolland Baker, Missionaries to Mozambique, Africa,[32] and Che Ahn, Senior Pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California.[33] Each of these leaders has also had a major impact on the 21st Century Charismatic Movement through regular conferences and revival meetings, including Azusa Now, Jesus Culture Conferences, The Call and The Send.[34][35][36]
Positive impact
Many different ministers traveled to TAV, and later, Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF) to experience for themselves what was happening during the Toronto Blessing meetings, as well as in the years to follow. These ministers have stated in various books and public teachings that they were present in the meetings, had differing positive encounters, and reported the fruit of those encounters:
Harvest International Ministries (HIM): started nightly meetings after their pastor, Che Ahn, attended services at TAV. These meetings lasted for three years and, since that time, HIM has planted thousands of churches in over 60 nations.[21][37]
Heidi Baker, leader of IRIS Global
IRIS Global: Heidi Baker, after attending the meetings in Toronto, went back to Mozambique, and in the years since, along with her husband, Rolland Baker, has planted more than 10,000 churches throughout Africa and Asia. Their organization, Iris Global, also provides food for 10,000 children each day, operates three primary schools, and five Bible schools; all of this success is attributed to what started in Toronto.[38][39][32][21][40]
Bethel Church: One year after Bill Johnson, a pastor in Weaverville, California, visited TAV, he took over as the senior pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California. Bethel has become known as a place of supernatural healing, impartation, and ministry training as a result of what occurred in Toronto.[12]
Nicky Gumbel: Gumbel was the curate of Holy Trinity Brompton at the time of the Toronto Blessing and was later the vicar of the church, the biggest Anglican church in the United Kingdom. He has been quoted as saying that the Toronto Blessing was "the kick start that the Alpha course needed".[27]
Negative impact
Alleged origins from outside of the Christian tradition - Andrew Strom claims that the spiritual phenomena witnessed during the Toronto Blessing were a result of what is known in the Hindu kundalini yoga tradition as shaktipat and "kundalini awakening".[41] He makes these claims in reference to phenomena that occurred during the Toronto Blessing[42] such as shaking, jerking, and writhing on the floor.
The claims of Strom have been directly disputed in a formal response by Randy Clark[43] as well as in a book written by John Arnott with his explanation of the disputed events.[42] Phenomena associated with "kundalini awakening" and the practice of shaktipat have appeared by those within the Toronto Blessing Movement to be similar to phenomena and/or spiritual practices mentioned in various New Testament texts, such as Acts 2:1-13, albeit under different names, in different terms, or with different purposes. For example, based on the testimony and specific evidence provided in Acts 2:1-13, what the Hindu spiritual traditions refer to as a "kundalini awakening" have been considered to carry a similarity to what occurred to Jesus' 12 Apostles - en masse - during the original Pentecost event. The Apostles' "baptism of the Holy Spirit" during Pentecost was accompanied by manifestations of "tongues of fire" and of speaking in other languages, which some present could understand, but others considered to be babbling in drunkenness. The accusation of drunkenness has been interpreted by practitioners of the Toronto Blessing to be actual drunken behavior. They believe that Andrew Strom has mistakenly confused manifestations within their movement to manifestations that occur within the New Age practice of Kundalini awakening. There continues to be a debate around whether or not such manifestations reflect what occurred within the biblical text of Acts 2:1-13.
Theological disagreement and reputation - Some organizations and writers[6] have painted the Toronto Blessing in a negative light which has created a negative stigma or reputation regarding charismatic style services among other Christian denominations. Other theologians singled out TAV, and its associated leaders, John and Caroll Arnott, as part of a bigger criticism of the Charismatic Movement, arguing from the position that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. One major voice in this dissent was John F. MacArthur who, in October 2013, led the "Strange Fire" Conference which was aimed at exposing excesses and doctrinal errors in the charismatic Christian movement.[7] Pastor Alan Morrison is also quoted as referring to the Toronto Blessing as the "Toronto delusion" and a "plague on the land."[44]
Denominational splits - In December 1995, the Toronto Airport Vineyard church was released from affiliation with the Vineyard movement. The reasons for the disaffiliation were for growing tension over the church's emphasis on extraordinary manifestations of the Holy Spirit, the methods used to logistically manage the ministry time during the services, a concern about leaders not abiding by established Association of Vineyard Churches guidelines, and the Vineyard leadership's inability to exercise oversight over the revival.[1][21] Early in 1996, the leadership of TAV decided to rename the church to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.[21] Randy Clark later stated that he was "grieved by the decision of the Vineyard's leadership" regarding this matter.[45] Bethel Church, located in Redding, California, and other organizations also later detached themselves from the Assemblies of God to support their own spiritual practices and movements that had occurred during the revival meetings.[46]
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is an international neocharismatic evangelical Christian association of churches.
The Azusa Street Revival was a historic series of revival meetings that took place in Los Angeles, California. It was led by William J. Seymour, an African-American preacher. The revival began on April 9, 1906, and continued until roughly 1915.
The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gifts (charismata). It has affected most denominations in the US, and has spread widely across the world.
John Richard Wimber was an American pastor, Christian author and musician. Initially ordained as a Quaker minister, he became an early, pioneering pastor of charismatic congregations, and a popular thought leader in modern Christian publications on the third person of the Christian Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit's action in modern churches through miraculous phenomena referred to as miracles, or signs and wonders. Wimber was a founding leader of the Vineyard Movement, a Christian movement that Ken Gulliksen began in the United States and that later became a wider denomination.
Slain in the Spirit or slaying in the Spirit are terms used by Pentecostal and charismatic Christians to describe a form of prostration in which an individual falls to the floor while experiencing religious ecstasy. Believers attribute this behavior to the power of the Holy Spirit. Other terms used to describe the experience include falling under the power, overcome by the Spirit, and resting in the Spirit. The practice is associated with faith healing because individuals are often slain while seeking prayer for illness.
The Brownsville Revival was a widely reported Christian revival within the Pentecostal movement that began on Father's Day June 18, 1995, at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. Characteristics of the Brownsville Revival movement, as with other Christian religious revivals, included acts of repentance by parishioners and a call to holiness, inspired by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Some of the occurrences in this revival fit the description of moments of religious ecstasy. More than four million people are reported to have attended the revival meetings from its beginnings in 1995 to around 2000.
Signs and wonders refers to experiences that are perceived to be miraculous as being normative in the modern Christian experience, and is a phrase associated with groups that are a part of modern charismatic movements and Pentecostalism. This phrase is seen multiple times throughout the Bible to describe the activities of the early church, and is historically recorded as continuing, at least in practice, since the time of Christ. The phrase is primarily derived from Old and New Testament references and is now used in the Christian and mainstream press and in scholarly religious discourse to communicate a strong emphasis on recognizing perceived manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the contemporary lives of Christian believers. It also communicates a focus on the expectation that divine action would be experienced in the individual and corporate life of the modern Christian church, and a further insistence that followers actively seek the "gifts of the Spirit".
Catch the Fire World is a global non-denominational Charismatic Christian ministry that includes churches, music, books, schools and events.
Rodney Morgan Howard-Browne is a South African-born American evangelist and conspiracy theorist. He has resided in Tampa, Florida since the mid-1990s and is pastor of The River Church in Tampa Bay. The River is considered both Pentecostal and Charismatic with revival meetings, led by Howard-Browne, known for those in the audience breaking into "holy laughter" and experiencing other phenomena similar to the Great Awakenings and Azusa Street Revival. Howard-Browne is the head of Revival Ministries International, a ministry he and his wife founded in 1997.
The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the current availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.
Direct revelation is a term used by some Christian churches to express their belief in a communication from God to a person by words, impression, visions, dreams, or actual appearance. Direct revelation is believed to be an open communication between God and man, or the Holy Spirit and man, without any other exterior (secondary) means. Direct revelation from evil spirits can also occur.
The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) is a classical Pentecostal Christian denomination in South Africa. With 1.2 million adherents, it is South Africa's largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest religious grouping in South Africa representing 7.6 percent of the population. Dr. Isak Burger has led the AFM as president since 1996 when the white and black branches of the church were united. It is a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission International, a fellowship of 23 AFM national churches. It is also a member of the South African Council of Churches.
The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially The General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States founded in 1914 during a meeting of Pentecostal ministers at Hot Springs, Arkansas, who came from a variety of independent churches and networks of churches. The Assemblies of God is a Finished Work Pentecostal denomination and is the U.S. branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the world's largest Pentecostal body. With a constituency of 2,928,143 in 2022, the Assemblies of God was the ninth largest Christian denomination and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States.
Practical charismatic theology is a subset of Christian theology that teaches how to practically apply charismatic Christian theology in the everyday life of a believer. Theology is the study of the nature of God and religious beliefs. Practical charismatic theology takes this a step further through the incorporation of these beliefs into an individual believer's lifestyle. Practical charismatic theology specifically focuses on incorporating charismatic Christian beliefs into an individual lifestyle with the goal of achieving what Jesus instructed his followers to pray for; "on earth as it is in heaven." Applying theology in this way has been reported as bringing about transformative changes in people's lives, faith healing as a result of prayer, and dramatic changes in entire communities.
The Lakeland Revival, or Florida Healing Outpouring, was a Pentecostal revival which took place from April until October 2008 in Lakeland, Florida, United States. The revival began on April 2, 2008, when evangelist Todd Bentley of Fresh Fire Ministries Canada was invited by Stephen Strader, pastor of Lakeland's Ignited Church, to lead a one-week revival, but remained there for over four months.
A revivalist is a person who holds, promotes, or presides over religious revivals. A secondary definition for revivalist is a person who revives customs, institutions, or ideas. The definition has become more robust in recent decades, and has been revised and adapted by American Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians to be someone who "recognizes that God's manifest presence transforms lives and cultures." A revivalist can also include someone that either presides over, or actively pursues, a religious re-awakening or restoration to spiritual ideas, orthodoxy, religious or personal experiences, and/or communal pursuit of divine occurrences.
Holy laughter is a term used within charismatic Christianity that describes a religious behaviour in which individuals spontaneously laugh during church meetings. It has occurred in many revivals throughout church history, but it became normative in the early 1990s in Neo-charismatic churches and the Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. Many people claimed to experience this phenomenon at a large revival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada known as the Toronto Blessing.
Margaret M. Poloma is an American sociologist, professor, and author who is known for her research on the Pentecostal movement in American Christianity.
Charismatic Christianity is a form of Christianity that emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts as an everyday part of a believer's life. It has a global presence in the Christian community. Practitioners are often called Charismatic Christians or Renewalists. Although there is considerable overlap, Charismatic Christianity is often categorized into three separate groups: Pentecostalism, the Charismatic movement, and the Neo-charismatic movement.
References
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1 2 3 Burgess, Stanley. The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. Zondervan, 2002
1 2 Ostling, Richard. Laughing for the Lord: Revivalist fervor has invaded the Church of England. Time Magazine, 1994, p.38
1 2 3 4 5 Maxwell, Joe. "Laughter Draws Toronto Charismatic Crowds". Christianity Today, October 24, 1994
1 2 Hanegraaff, Hank. Counterfeit Revival. Thomas Nelson, 2001
1 2 Macarthur, John. Strange Fire. Nelson Books, 2014
↑ Toronto Life Magazine. Best and worst: A year in the life of the city. 1994
↑ Welchel, Tommy. True Stories of the Miracles of Azusa Street and Beyond: Re-live One of The Greastest Outpourings in History that is Breaking Loose Once Again. Destiny Image, 2013
1 2 Hyatt, Eddie. 2000 Years Of Charismatic Christianity: A 21st century look at church history from a pentecostal/charismatic prospective. Charisma House, 2002
1 2 Clark, Randy. The Biblical Guidebook to Deliverance. Charisma House, 2015
1 2 3 Johnson, Bill and Clark, Randy. Healing: Unplugged. Chosen, 2012
1 2 3 Poloma, Margaret. Inspecting the fruit: A 1997 sociological assessment of the blessing. The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, 1998
↑ Stone, Barton. An account of the remarkable religious exercises witnessed in the beginning of the 19th century. 1847
↑ Finney, Chalres. Memoirs of Rev. Charles G. Finney. A. S. Barnes and Company, 1876
↑ Jesus Culture Conference 2015: Los Angeles – Session 1 – A Powerful Prayer.
1 2 Waxman, Sharon. Filled with Ho Ho Holy Spirit. Washington Post, 1996
↑ Oropeza, B. J. A Time to Laugh: The Holy Laughter Phenomenon Examined (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1995).
↑ Buttner, Charleen. Latter Rain.University of Virginia, 2001 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-08-28. Retrieved 2006-08-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ Cupitt, Don. Taking Leave of God. SCM Classics, 1980
↑ Anderson, Allen H. An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity 2nd Edition. Cambridge University, 2013
↑ Johnson, Bill and Baker, Heidi. Hosting the Presence: Unveiling Heaven's Agenda. Destiny Image, 2012
1 2 Baker, Heidi and Pradhan, Shara. Compelled by Love: How to change the world through the simple power of love in action. Charisma House, 2008
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