You Aren't Invisible

What does it feel like to be invisible? According to missionary evangelist Jason Frenn, the blind beggar in the gospel of Luke who called out to Jesus as He was passing through knew exactly what that felt like. The man was considered less than impure — he was viewed as expendable.

Frenn, who ministered in the Wednesday evening service in the Anaheim Arena at the 57^th General Council, has decades of experience in ministering to those suffering. He and his wife, Cindee, regularly hold revivals in Latin America where the suffering is overwhelming. But in doing so, millions have heard the gospel message and hundreds of thousands have come to Christ.

Yet the night’s message wasn’t aimed at lost souls; it was directed at the struggling ones — those believers who felt invisible, perhaps even expendable.

As Frenn and his interpreter, Dan Campbell, began the message, with Frenn volleying from English to Spanish, and Campbell following suit, he shared how he had been praying about this message for more than a year. He believed he had received a word from the Lord to share.

‘We need to break out of our reality and break into the Lord’s reality,” Frenn began. “Our reality and God’s reality are two separate things.”

In examining the Scripture passage concerning the blind man, Frenn noted something significant. Those who rebuked the blind man for calling out to Jesus, the ones leading the group, were Christians who considered the blind man outside of the grace of God — not a candidate for a miracle from Jesus!

“And that happens today,” Frenn said. “There are people [Christians] who consider certain people outside of the grace of God. They won’t preach it, but they believe it.”

Frenn also noted that the blind man not only wouldn’t stop calling out to Jesus, but when asked what he wanted, he asked not for great wealth or a wife — he asked for the impossible.

He then equated the blind man’s “impossible” request to revival in the United States — another impossibility. As he sprinkled examples of God’s “impossible” power throughout his message, Frenn offered three things that will enable revival to take place:

• Don’t become immune to the power of the gospel you preach;

• Ask God for nothing less than the impossible;

• Realize that you are not invisible to God — He hears you, He sees you, you are not expendable.

Switching gears to focus on the third step to seeing revival, he asked the audience who needed the power of God to descend on their life, ministry, family, children, body, or simply needed an encounter with that same Jesus who did the impossible for a blind man, to raise their hands and then come to the altar. The altar and aisles were flooded.

As he prayed over the crowd, and God was being called upon to do the impossible in lives throughout the arena, Frenn took things to a new level.

“I’m going to do something that you’re not supposed to do at a General Council,” he began. “If tonight you need to rededicate (or for the first time dedicate) your life to Christ, raise your hand.” Scores of hands around the arena were raised and then prayed over.

Frenn concluded the service by speaking a blessing on those in attendance, praying that God would allow revival to come to every church and that it would sweep the United States, surpassing even that of the Latin America revival that has been taking place.

Some 5,000 people were present for Frenn’s General Council message, which was open to the public, with another 5,700 attending the National Youth Convention service Wednesday evening.

Prior to the General Council evening message, General Superintendent George O. Wood, on behalf of the Assemblies of God, honored six Executive Presbyters for their years of service.

Those recognized included Zollie L. Smith Jr., executive director of U.S. Missions who has led U.S. Missions from 2007-2017; Warren D. Bullock, the executive presbyter of the Northwest Region from 2001-2017; J. Don George, the executive presbyter for the South Central Region from 2001-2017; Jesse Miranda Jr, an executive presbyter for Hispanic regions from 1995-2017; Clarence St. John, executive presbyter for the North Central Region from 2007-2017; and Brian C. Schmidgall, executive presbyter under 40 from 2013-2017.

General Council services continue Thursday night with a missions emphasis as AGWM Executive Director Greg Mundis and Zollie Smith will share the podium. The 2017 General Council will conclude Friday evening with the combined National Youth Convention and General Council Celebration Service.

Dan Van Veen

Dan Van Veen is news editor of AG News. Prior to transitioning to AG News in 2001, Van Veen served as managing editor of AG U.S. Missions American Horizon magazine for five years. He attends Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri, where he and his wife, Lori, teach preschool Sunday School and 4- and 5-year-old Rainbows boys and girls on Wednesdays.