November 2009 Issue

Recent Meetings:

          The Lord said something to me a few months back, which I believe I saw demonstrated in the recent meetings I held at God's House of Hope in Mulberry, Arkansas.  The Lord said to me:

          Although this is a small church in the middle of nowhere, there came forth mighty things in the meetings.  I'm thankful that the meetings were videotaped, and that I am able to share the videos with you now.  My thanks to Jim Kolb for the video editing. 

          On Saturday I preached on "Jesus Christ:  The Word Made Flesh."  This was a spiritual truth that the Lord has been emphasizing to me recently.  We can always know the will of God by simply looking at Jesus Christ.

          On Sunday, I taught on, and explained that, "Jesus Christ Makes You Whole."  Drawing from difficult episodes of my own life, I spoke for the first time publicly about challenges the Lord has seen me through.  I share more of the details surrounding the services in my "Report on the Mulberry Arkansas Meetings."

          I trust that these messages will stir up your faith to believe God for every breakthrough you need, and help you make a new beginning and move beyond the hurts of the past.  The videos have been divided into segments of 10 minutes or less in order to post them through You Tube.

          --Brother Mel 

Comment From Rev. David Garner

Pastor of God's House of Hope:

          On October 10th and 11th brother Mel traveled to our little town of Mulberry, Arkansas in order to hold two days of meetings.  I work with alot of people from "difficult" life situations, i.e., drugs, prison, etc. The first night was a very sound "nuts and bolts" sermon on the person of Jesus.  God was also glorified through a manifestation of tongues and interpretation as well.

          On the second night Brother Mel ministered from his heart of hearts.  There were many tears as the Spirit began to mend broken lives.  One lady asked me if I had told him her life story.  I answered "no."  "Well, how did he know the details of my life?  He looked right into my eyes as he spoke on a certain hurt and it was my pain that he was describing!"  I explained that it was not Bro. Mel, but the Holy Ghost through him longing to heal her broken heart.  She will NEVER be the same!!

          There are also other things that are truly a blessing that God has used Bro. Mel to bring to this ministry but no room here to go into detail.  He has become a friend and a member of our family here in Mulberry.  I would encourage any Pastor reading this to open a door for this man of God to come and be a blessing to you and your people.
                      

                    In God's love,
                    Pastor David Garner

                    God's House of Hope

                    Mulberry, Arkansas

On a Personal Note:

          I see wonderful things taking place at God's House of Hope.  I want to encourage everyone in NW Arkansas that if you don't have a church you are committed to, to call and visit God's House of Hope, and help this pastor reach out to the hurting and the lost.  If you want to attend a church where you can invest your time, prayer, and finances and see tangible results in the lives of people, please consider joining this church.  Contact Information:

                         God's House of Hope

                         Pastor David Garner

                         314 North Main Street

                         Mulberry Arkansas

                         For More Information:

                         479-997-8682 and 479-209-1681

 Minister to Minister:

     From time to time, I like to write an article or minister a message that is directed towards fellow ministers.  I do this for the purpose of passing on some lessons learned in ministry.  If you are in full-time ministry or are called to ministry, please give the following truths your prayerful consideration:  

"Message Verses Testimony"

By Mel C. Montgomery

          One of the benefits of receiving from a ministry of the calibur of the Goodwins and from Rev. Elizabeth Pruitt-Sloan is that from time to time, that minister will make an off-hand comment that can give you a key truth that is a pearl of wisdom.  Something that Sister Elizabeth said recently has helped me in ministry, and is exemplified in the videos I'm sharing with you this month.

          Years ago, Sister Elizabeth dealt with a very challenging situation in her personal life that stretched over a number of years.  In the process, God taught her some truths that helped her get the victory, and she published the testimony and truths in a book.  She gave a copy to Brother Hagin.  After reading it, he said to her, "Elizabeth, this is your testimony--but it is not your message."  In other words, this that you lived through, and learned from, is a part of your overall testimony of faith in Jesus Christ that brought you this victory.  However, the message the Lord has placed in your heart to minister to the world is separate from this testimony.  So, share the testimony when you believe it will be beneficial to others, but in your usual course of ministry, continue preaching and teaching the message God has commissioned you and sent you forth to give.

          It seems strange that your testimony can be different than your message, or that your field of outreach in ministry can be entirely different than where you came from.  Consider the Apostle Paul.  He was Jewish and grew up as a Pharisee, which was the strictest form of Judaisim.  Yet, when he accepted Christ and developed into ministry, God made him an apostle, not to the Pharisees or to the Jews, but to the Gentiles.  Additionally, Paul pioneered churches in numerous cities in various countries.  However, we have no record of Paul starting a church in the city of Tarsus from which he came. 

          I've seen many ministers make the mistake of assuming that they were to take their testimony and to return to win souls among whatever group they came from.  Such is not always God's will.  God may take you out of a life of bondage to drugs or alcohol, and He may not send you out to win alcoholics and drug addicts to Christ.  Instead, the Lord may send you forth to earn an advanced theological education and to serve Him as a theologian in a seminary.  He may take someone from a life of privilege, and send them to the poor.  God's ways are different from our ways. 

          Charles Goodwin is a good example of a man who took the time to find God's message, rather than simply relying on his testimony.  He grew up in Pentecost, knew the 1950's healing evangelist Jack Coe, and also grew up knowing Kenneth Hagin from Hagin's earliest ministry days.  Brother Charles could have relied on his parents' name to bring him to the forefront of the Charismatic and Word of Faith movements.  But when he submitted to the call of God on his life, God sent him to earn advanced theological degrees and to serve Him as a seminary professor of Koine Greek among the Southern Baptists.  God sent a Pentecostal to go teach in a prestegious Southern Baptist Seminary!  But obedience to God came natural to Charles, having learned this from his parents.  

          Back in the 1960's and 1970's, the Goodwins ministered a number of times for the Full Gospel Businessmens Fellowship International.  Its president and founder, Demos Shakarian, was deeply moved as he watched the Holy Spirit flow through Mom and Dad Goodwin.  He approached them with an offer.  You see, many Pentecostal ministers had gone on television, and were reaching millions:  Oral Roberts, Jack Coe, A.A. Allen, Kathryn Kuhlman, Rex Humbard, etc.  Demos approached the Goodwins and offered to pay all the expenses necessary to develop a television program featuring the Goodwins.  All Mom and Dad Goodwin had to do to be in millions of livingrooms overnight was to simply say "yes."  The Goodwins told  him they would have to ask God about it.  What their answer would be seemed obvious.  God was clearly opening a door for them to be in television, right?  Rather than reaching hundreds, they could reach millions, every week.  Awhile later, they returned to Brother Demos with their answer:  "I'm sorry.  The Lord said 'No.'"

          In my own case, my message for years was unclear to me.  I've taught, ministered prophetically, and pastored.  Then as God brought the Goodwin recordings to me, and ministered to me from several different sources, I began to understand that my message at this time is centered around recapturing the positives of moves of God of the past, and to communicate them clearly within the context of what God is doing today.  

          My message is considerably different than my testimony.  In the meetings at Mulberry, Arkansas recently, I shared aspects of my testimony that I have never spoken about before in public.  I perceived a great deal of emotional hurt in the congregation caused by shattered family relationships.  So, I spoke to a certain extent of my own shattered family and the pain I suffered beginning in childhood and continuing until in my late 30's when I put an end to it and moved on with God.  I gave the audience enough generalized descriptions to give them the picture of the pain, and then I taught them the truths God used to bring me healing and wholeness.  Most people who have come to know me in the last ten years or so, do not know about this soul-crushing chapter of my life.  Why?  Because it is my testimony, not my message.

          I'm glad I shared my testimony with the congregation in Mulberry.  People in the audience were deeply moved because they had experienced similar pains, and they benefitted as I shared with them the truths God had used to make me whole.  I trust my testimony will minister to you also.

          If you are a pastor and think my testimony would help hurting people in your congregation, let me know.  I will send you a free copy of the DVD, and you can burn copies of it and share it with people in your congregation.  If it would be helpful, I am also available to come minister these truths in your church--provided of course, that I can have the opportunity to preach my actual message of Reformation in which we return to emphasizing Jesus Christ, the Cross, and Pentecost.

New Article:

"Sloshed in the Spirit"

By J. Lee Grady

Editor of Charisma Magazine

          A few of my fellow Charismatic Christians will not like this article.  But I think that many more will say, "Thank God someone finally has found a backbone and is saying what needs to be said!"  The truth is the truth.  God can, and sometimes does, use Laughing in the Spirit, Falling, and unusual manifestations to accomplish His purpose.  However, I can find no example in the New Testament of church service after church service being given entirely over to Laughing or Falling, without a sermon being preached, or even a single scripture being quoted. 

          Dr. Charles Goodwin and I make the case in our book, "To Fall or Not to Fall," that these manifestations have been common in nearly every major revival of the last three centuries.  However, the revivalists who experienced moves of God far greater than have seen in modern times, accommodated these manifestations, but they did not focus on them, build their ministries around them, and travel from town to town trying to introduce Christians to unusual spiritual manifestations.  Instead, they preached Jesus Christ and allowed God to move however He so desired, but they NEVER allowed the focus to shift from preaching and glorifying Jesus Christ to a craving for unusual experiences.  Brother Grady will receive a ton of ugly e-mails and letters in response to this article.  But I commend him for writing it, and I urge all of my subscribers to think deeply on the truths this man presents to us.

A Question:

          Would you be willing to financially support a missionary in Iran?

          In Communist China? 

          How about one in Saudi Arabia?

          You may not be aware of this fact, but it is almost impossible to minister or bring Christian materials into these and several other countries.  Yet our website traffic and the e-mails we receive inform us that our teaching materials, audios, and videos, are being downloaded in these mission fields 24/7/365.  We reach into 152 countries including the following countries that are almost impossible to reach:  Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Haiti, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kuwait, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and many others.

          Since January 1, 2007 our recordings and teaching articles have been downloaded 1,616,316 times by people in 152 countries. 

          Please help us in this work by becoming financial partners with this ministry.  To donate, please click HERE. 

A Great Ministry:

Rev. Marvin Hazel

Global Rain Ministries
2700 W Main
Indpendence, KS 67301
620-331-1677

          Rev. Marvin Hazel was closely associated with Sister Goodwin and she trusted him to catalogue the Goodwin recordings.  He has been in ministry for a number of years and is used in spiritual operations.  Brother Marvin lives in Independence, Kansas, ministering a great deal throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, other places in the USA and in Canada.  

 Equipment Request: 

A Reel to Reel Tape Player

          A rare recordings collector has sent to us eleven reel to reels which contain sermons by David Du Plessis, Bob Mumford, and several other speakers preaching a campmeeting in the early 1960's.  These have never been copied or released to the public before this.  We have run on to a difficulty in transferring the recordings from reel to reel to a hard drive and then to mp3.  Namely, the reels appear to have been recorded at a slow speed of 1 7/8's and the player we are using runs at a speed of 3 3/4s.  This causes the Du Plessis and Mumford to sound like chipmunks.  If anyone out there has a reel to reel player that plays at this slow speed, please consider loaning or donating it to us.  Contact Brother Mel at admin@brothermel.com. 

 2010 Meetings:

          2010 is shaping up to be the breakthrough year for Mel Montgomery Ministries.  Satan has hindered the forward movement of this ministry for the last several years.  Additionally, some churches and ministers have wanted to observe Brother Mel's consistency for awhile before inviting him to come minister.  But the message of Reformation, returning to pure scriptural teachings, to preaching Jesus Christ, the Cross, and Pentecost has spoken to the hearts of fellow ministers, and they are responding.  Several churches in the USA and Europe have invited Mel to come minister in early 2010, and are working out specific dates.  If your church wants Brother Mel to come and minister in 2010, now is the time to contact him at admin@brothermel.com. 

Collinsville (Tulsa), Oklahoma:

Elizabeth Pruitt-Sloan's

Monthly Meetings

"Tulsa's Best Kept Secret"

A Music Video:

          I do not keep current on Contemporary Christian music, Christian artificially-inflated "best sellers," or the latest fads and money-grabbing gimmicks, so a Christian song can be popular and fade before I ever evev hear it.  One song I heard recently has been turned into a music video, and I would like to share it with you.  I believe it will bless you:

"By His Wounds We Are Healed"

by Steven Curtis Chapman, Brian Littrell, Mac Powell, and Mark Hall 

A Word From Brother Mel:

 Hello Friends and Ministry Partners,

          The leaves are changing to their Fall colors here in the Ozarks of Missouri.  It is quite beautiful.  If possible, sometime in your life, travel to Missouri and Arkansas in the Fall and see the scenery for yourself.  The beauty is breathttaking.

          I am very much looking forward to Sister Elizabeth's November 14th Holy Spirit meeting.  She has told me she is feeling led to minister on the supernatural aspects of God's power, and is feeling the power of God begin to move on her in the way it did years ago when she had many more healings and miracles in her ministry.  Her message should be very helpful and inspiring.  

          At the end of the November meeting, we will be ordaining some new members into H.I.M. (Helping Inspire Ministries).   Elizabeth has asked me to participate in the service.  It is always a joy to extend the right hand of fellowship to emerging ministries, and to invite them to become a part of our spiritual family.  As I have shared with you before, I was a member of a major Word of Faith international ministry association for 12 years.  During that time, when I would call the national office for advice, I never had a single phone call returned in those 12 years.  I never met any of the regional or district representatives who were supposedly in authority over me.  I was just a name in a directory to them.

          I have found a spiritual home in H.I.M.  If you are in ministry, or on the verge of it, and are looking for a ministry association to join, I encourage you to consider joining H.I.M.  Along with being a part of a larger vision, and receiving sound advice, you can at least get a phone call returned.  :)  If you would like more information about H.I.M. please e-mail Rev. Elizabeth Pruitt-Sloan and request a membership package and application.  Her e-mail address is:  pruitt-sloan@att.net.   

          I want to end this newsletter by saying to those of you who have become prayer and financial partners with me in ministry, "Thank You."  Your support enables us to take these recordings and teachings around the world, from the skyscrapers of New York City to the most backwater villages in third world countries.  Plus your support sets the stage for us to hold meetings in local churches where we can put these Reformation principles into practice.  This is fruit that abounds to your spiritual account also.

          I set aside a time every day to pray for those of you who have partnered with me to be healed, to prosper, and to have a visitation from God in whatever area of life in which you need Him to move.  I urge you also to remember us in prayer, and to always pray for the leaders of our country and of yours, and also for the members of the USA armed services and those of your country.

     God bless you!

     Brother Mel

 ......To sow a seed into this ministry, please click on the link below:

           "Make a Donation"

         ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................