The Mantle of Francis Asbury

On Christmas Day of 1998, I received quite a few books from my mom. One book caught my eyes that I immediately started reading that afternoon: Into the Fire by Che Ahn. The book recounts Che’s personal spiritual journey and the birth of his church, Harvest Rock in Pasadena, California. After three hours I had read the whole book. My heart was deeply stirred especially by the chapter on prayer for all nations. Che had highlighted the life of an intercessor-revivalist who was a co-laborer with him. This man had pursued hard after God’s own heart for California, spending much time praying and fasting for revival. Something deep within my own heart longed to become a man of prayer—a man whose heart was set upon the Lord’s own heart.

This man—a praying intercessor-revivalist, was Lou Engle.

A month later I was in Colorado Springs attending the National School of the Prophets. As usual I ventured to the bookstore to check out some good books! I bumped into a guy (Bill Bower) as we were both reaching for Becoming a Prayer Warrior by Beth Alves. An ensuing conversation developed, centered upon recommended books to read. I readily exhorted this gentleman to read Into the Fire by Che Ahn.

Surprised, he exclaimed, “Che is my pastor!” I couldn’t believe this. I told him that I had to meet this intercessor-revivalist that his pastor wrote about named Lou Engle.

“Lou is my friend,” Bill said. “I live two minutes from him.”

At that time I was working as a full-time campus minister in Virginia. During the spring break at the end of February, I flew out to California to stay with my new friend for a week. Upon arriving in Pasadena, he took me over to meet Lou Engle, a man that I had only read about. It was evident in conversing with Lou, a man with a raspy voice and fire in his eyes, that he had a passion to see revival in this Nation. He invited me to join him every morning at 5:00am at the Mott Auditorium to pray for revival. Then he prayed for me and before rejoining his family, he went inside to retrieve a book that he gave to me: Azusu Street by Frank Bartleman. This was an eyewitness account by a prophetic intercessor of the Azusu Street outpouring in 1907 that forever changed the landscape of Christianity. At the time, I didn't realize the full significance of Lou Engle giving me this book by Bartleman.

Now fast forward to January of 2005. I was living in Fredericksburg, Virginia with my wife. Our church was getting ready for the first Awaken the Dawn gathering and Lou Engle was scheduled to be one of the main speakers. During this season, I was experiencing an intense work of deeper consecration unto the Lord. In hindsight, what seemed to unleash the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to a new level in my life was a prophetic dream that I had involving Chuck Pierce in December of ‘04.

In the dream, Chuck Pierce and I were together on the top floor of the home that I grew up in on Overrun Drive. We were standing in the front looking out an open window. Outside I could see clearly the lush, green leaves on the oak trees in front of the house. Everything was so alive and fresh. Then Chuck started prophesying through the window—literally yelling at the top of his voice with much authority—before proceeding to slam shut the window when he finished.

The next day I found an article by Chuck Pierce on the Internet about a “Window of Opportunity” that I knew was for me. This was a theme that Chuck continually affirmed throughout 2005 as evident by the following excerpt that he wrote a few months later:

“This is a year of the open window of heaven. As I have written, this is a year of the HEI of God. The Hebrew letter HEI looks like a window. When studying this word, both wind and sound blow from heaven through the window into the earth realm to bring change. Declare that you are willing to change and watch your atmosphere begin to be filled with God's presence. God does not produce signs and wonders from heaven as ends in themselves. They are released to bring faith to His people and those around them -- whether believers or unbelievers.”

This dream signified an opening of the window of heaven in my life. In the ensuing weeks I had other prophetic dreams, increased passion for Christ, greater victory over sin, and powerful visitations of the Holy Spirit—thus, confirming that a window of heaven was indeed over my life. My own heart was hungering for a greater revelation of Christ and I was crying out daily to the Lord for grace to consecrate my heart afresh to Him.

As the Awaken the Dawn conference loomed closer, I started praying that the Lord would give me wisdom regarding what book to purchase for Lou Engle as a gift of appreciation since he had given me the Frank Bartleman book when I first met him. Over the years I had read his books, Digging the Wells of Revival, Fast Forward, and The Elijah Revolution; and I had listened to countless messages by Lou—overall his ministry had greatly influenced my life. I felt compelled by the Lord to pray for the right book to give him.

The Lord answered my prayer through a dream on January 21.

In the dream I told Lou that I had been praying about getting a book for him called Lost Causes by George Grant. Yet, in the dream he was fascinated with another book in the bookstore called America, Founded on Faith, Built on Character: Defining Moments in America. After waking up, I knew that this was indeed the Lord. I went to the bookstore to purchase the book for Lou. When he came to the conference, I took it to him upon his arrival. As you can imagine, Lou was pumped because of the subtitle: Defining Moments in America. Defining moments had been a prophetic theme during that season in his life!

The night prior to Lou’s scheduled speaking engagement at Awaken the Dawn, I took the time to write out the dream to Lou. Also I explained how we had met previously in 1999 through a mutual friend. As I finished the letter to Lou, I placed it inside the book. Then a strong, tangible sense of the Lord’s presence permeated my heart. I had this overwhelming sense that the Lord desired to speak to me that very moment.

As I waited upon the Lord, my eyes fell upon a new book, History Makers—coauthored by Dutch Sheets and William Ford. Suddenly, quietly but urgently, the Lord impressed upon my heart to read page 143 of this book that I had not previously read.

Immediately my eyes were drawn to a section called “The Generations Reconnected,” which started with a quote from Lou Engle. The Lord had my attention! Anticipation and faith surged in my heart. As I stated earlier, I had finished the letter to Lou just a few minutes beforehand. I could sense that God was speaking to me concerning something very dear to His heart.

In this section, the authors quote Lou Engle from his book Digging the Wells of Revival as he delineates a hypothetical example of how a young lady discovers her spiritual heritage when she reads her grandmother’s diary:

"Strategies alone will never bring revival because revival is the eruption of God’s heart on a life poured out. It’s the Father’s response to those who have been His lovers and to whom He gave promises and sent fire on their offerings. These faithful ones passed into glory and their eternal reward. There then arises another generation, a generation of great grandsons and great granddaughters '….who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel [His people]' (Judges 2:10). One day one of these granddaughters finds a book among the heirlooms and prized possessions of her grandmother stored in the attic. The book is her grandmother’s diary, the stories of a woman who prayed hours…until the Holy Spirit came and shook her church and the surrounding township. As the young reads, she begins to burn inside, saying, 'This is my heritage. Wow!'…That young girl pours herself out to God, and another memorial is made."

The authors of History Maker then recount a real life example of this hypothetical scenario through the story of Tommi Femrite, the founder of Gatekeeper International. Prior to her conversion, Tommi was rummaging through her grandparent’s attic when she found an old prayer diary that belonged to her great-great-great-grandmother. This woman in her lineage was Ruth Bond, an itinerant Quaker preacher during the Civil War. Years after her conversion, Tommi was startled to discover the similarities between her ministry and that of her matriarch. Dutch Sheets writes, “Many generations of Tommi’s family didn’t know the Lord, but when she connected with the prayers of her matriarch, her life was changed.”

As I read the chapter, the content gripped my heart as the authors wrote about our spiritual inheritance and the need to connect to the mantles of past Christian leaders. In essence these past mantles represent promises that the Lord had bestowed upon a previous generation. Then I came across a powerful story from the life of Lou Engle in the same chapter. Again, my heart was racing. The authors record how the Lord led Lou supernaturally to pursue the mantle of Frank Bartleman:

"At the time of his discovery, Lou had just moved to Pasadena, where Bartleman also had lived. Though Lou is not related to him, he felt a connection with his man of faith and cried out for his mantle. Lou said he cried out to God for hours one day after reading this book, praying, 'Lord, give me the mantle for prayer Frank Bartleman had! I want what he had!' This intense intercession went on for about two hours. Unaware of this, a friend of Lou’s came to him the next day and said, 'Lou, I had a dream about you last night. In the dream, I was handed a black book with ‘Revival’ written in gold letters across the front. I opened it up and saw a picture of a man named Frank Bartleman, with his name underneath the picture. As I was looking at the picture, all of a sudden his face changed to yours, Lou!' His friend had no idea that just the day before Lou had been crying out for Bartleman’s mantle for revival.

What an amazing story. This intercessor-revivalist was used mightily in the Azusu Street Outpouring. This stirred my heart deeply—I paused to ponder the question, "Did the Lord desire to lead me in the direction of pursuing a mantle just as the Lord had led Lou Engle to pray for the mantle of Frank Bartleman?" This whole process started because of my desire to give Lou Engle a book in response to the Frank Bartleman book that he had given me years ago. Here I was reading about the impact that Frank Bartleman had on the life of Lou Engle. This wasn't just a mere coincidence. I knew that this was indeed of the Lord, yet I was uncertain as to how to proceed. I was cautious. I simply prayed that the Lord would make His purpose and plans in this matter absolutely clear because I was well aware of my own deceitful heart that could easily be intertwined in wishful thinking.

During this season in my life I had also discovered that the area where my wife and I had settled (Spotsylvania County) in 2003 had actually been the roots of my Christian lineage. I never knew this. Previously I thought I had always been the first one saved in my family with the exception of my mom’s grandmother (and her sister) who was a God-fearing woman. I found out that this grandmother came from a godly lineage originating in Spotsylvania County. Excitement percolated within my heart because previously I was only aware of destruction in my lineage. Both my biological father and his father committed suicide. My mom’s parents abused drugs and alcohol and were both dead by the time they were 42. Literally I could feel the weight of these generational sins. In light of this new insight concerning a godly heritage, I contacted a relative in the area was well rehearsed in the family tree.

This is where it gets exciting.

As I conversed with her over the phone, she confirmed what my mom had said concerning the godly heritage. Then she shared something that dramatically altered the course of my life. My forefathers were godly people associated with the early circuit riders. This greatly piqued my interest.

Needless to say, I was a captive audience!

“Are you familiar with the famed Bishop Francis Asbury?” she asked me, “He was good friends with our ancestor, George Arnold, who lived here in Spotsylvania County. Often Bishop Asbury would stay with him when traveling.” Excitedly I exclaimed that he was my favorite Methodist figure along with John Wesley. I was shocked! I couldn’t believe that my forefathers were good friends with Asbury and that he would stay with them when necessary. Yet, there was one more thing that would take this new revelation to a whole new dimension. This is what impacted me the most: Francis Asbury died in the home of my ancestors. As he was traveling from Richmond, Virginia to Baltimore, Maryland, he stopped with his companion to stay at the home of George Arnold. Then on March 31, 1816, he passed from this life into eternity to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So exactly what does this mean? As best as I can, I would sum it up in the following: The apostolic mantle of Francis Asbury came to rest in the house of my forefathers. And I believe the Lord sovereignly invited me to pursue this apostolic mantle. Francis Asbury was sent to the colonies by John Wesley and became the pivotal leader of this fledging movement. Yet after 45 years, 250,000 miles on horseback, 16,000 sermons, this “Father of American Methodism” left a mantle of great value—a changed nation.

Words cannot adequately capture the significance of this discovery and the corresponding impact that it has had on my own life. I haven’t been the same since this window of heaven was opened in my life. Although I had known the Lord for over twelve years to that point in January of 2005, I was ignorant concerning this godly lineage and their association with Francis Asbury. The Lord graciously opened a window of heaven over my life during that season as I learned of this revelation four days after initially reading about Lou Engle in the History Makers book.

Later I found a section in History Makers on Francis Asbury. Speaking of Asbury, William Ford the co-author wrote the following: “What a memorial! Somebody, please, visit it!” Just as Lou Engle was inspired by the Holy Spirit to cry out for Frank Bartleman’s mantle, so too, have I cried out with fervency for the apostolic mantle of Francis Asbury. One year ago today on March 31, 2007 I visited the original site of the George Arnold House where a memorial erected by the Methodist Church stands today to commemorate the site of the passing of the “Father of American Methodism”. It is a small plot of land that is only twenty minutes from where my wife and I bought our first home. That particular day marked the 191st anniversary of his passing. On holy ground I bowed my knees as I beseeched the Lord for this apostolic mantle to send forth modern day circuit riders to preach the gospel.

My heart burns to preach the unadulterated Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the national mandate that the Lord has given me in this hour that echoes the clarion call of John Wesley: “Give me 100 men who hate nothing but sin and love God with all their hearts and I will shake this nation for God!” Under the umbrella of our ministry, These Bones Shall Live, we are pioneering this network of 100 emerging evangelists, revivalists, prophets, and the like, who burn to see God move in our Nation. It will be called THE CIRCUIT RIDERS. Initially these circuit riders will focus on targeting the Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC region and eventually the Ivy League schools in the northeast.

May the Lord enable us to stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us such as the circuit riders of old. Yet may there arise in this hour a generation of new circuit riders whose hearts are fully captivated by the God-man, Christ Jesus. May the stains of the bride's garments (in our Nation) cause much anguish so that we are compelled to receive something from heaven that enables us to speak with authority. May a new voice arise in this hour. The voice of our Lord trumpeting through a new generation of circuit riders.

Saddle up! The horse is just about ready.

Time is nigh to hear a new generation of circuit riders preach with apostolic authority!