The message is a sermon entitled, Fire in Ecuador, which was delivered by Mr. Howe at Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia on May 16th. 

I want to share with you a little bit of what I can only call fire in Ecuador. It began with a telephone call from Paul Walter, who is the director of the South American Missionary Society here in the USA. He's a close friend of Truro's. John Vandervoort, who read the epistle, is on the board of Sam's. We have a very close relationship with that ministry, and we're excited about what God is doing through Sam's. The Rosses have just gone off to work with Sam's in Honduras.

And so when Paul called, we were glad to hear from him. Joyce took the call, and she said, I've never heard Paul Walter speak that way. He was so excited, he could hardly get his words out straight.

the message was something wonderful has happened in the life of Bishop Adrian Casares Bishop of Ecuador something wonderful I don't fully understand it but God is moving in his life in a new way and he wants to share that with his clergy and so he's called a conference and for them it's a command performance you will be there you will like it And Paul said he's looking for somebody to come down and teach his clergy about the Holy Spirit. Could you come? Well, I could hardly refuse.

Paul said this is one of the most important doors that has ever opened in Latin America. And I suspect that may be so. We looked at dates, and the only time that it was possible to do this was April 30th to May 7th.

That meant readjusting their schedule in Ecuador, and the bishop gladly did that. He canceled a synod meeting in order to give maximum time to our being together. With a day of travel on each end, that meant there were six days in the middle for teaching.

And so I said, how much of that time is mine? He said, well, every morning, every afternoon, and every evening. He said, he kept dropping these little comments.

He said, you are my slave. When we finally met face to face, he took great delight. He must have said this 20 times.

He said, I must kill you. And then he'd smile with this little beatific smile. I must kill you. I must slay you.

That's why we've brought you here. Here is a preacher. Come, let us slay him.

So as it actually worked out, it was about five hours a day for all six days, and that included Sunday. They canceled the church assignments for the clergy. The lay people met in their various places, and lay readers led the services, and the clergy came and learned.

and that was the level of importance that the bishop attached to our time together. When we got off the plane, we went to dinner, and the first thing he said to me was, you need to understand that my clergy do not know the Lord. They are not converted.

That was his assessment. I think that was probably a little bit strong, as a matter of fact. But they clearly were starting with very little strong foundation.

we didn't really hardly even have time to catch our breath we arrived on a Friday evening Karen went immediately the next morning off to Gaiaquillo with the bishop's wife and she was going to be speaking for the next couple of days to lay people and I got started right away with the clergy and I met Frank and Omero and David and Francisco and Jaime and Leonardo and a couple of Carloses Alfredo and Jorge and Luis and so on and off we went. They didn't really want to come. I found that out later.

They didn't really want to come. They were not up for this. But I began by stating the assumption that if you have come to Jesus in any sense, if you have responded to Jesus, and obviously in some sense they had responded to the Lord, then the assumption is the Holy Spirit is already at work in your life.

and the question is are you willing to have him be and do whatever he wants to be and do because he always has more for you all how many of you know that he always has more for us the minute you think you've arrived you're in deep trouble see and so wherever you are he's got more for you and that was where we began not that that you don't have the holy spirit but that he's got more for you. Are you prepared to let him do and be whatever he wants to do and be? And I shared, to start off, some of the wonderful things that we've been privileged to see God the Holy Spirit doing literally around the world.

From the bishops dancing around the high altar of Canterbury Cathedral, to the power of God coming into a multicultural church and synagogue, to healings in Tanzania. As a matter of fact, that was the point at which they really began to take note of what was being said, because I shared with them the story of that little baby girl that we prayed for last summer in Tanzania. You may remember the story, the little girl who was born with deformity, and we prayed for her.

Nothing immediately happened, but God really put her on my heart, and I wrote back to Bishop Gerard Impango afterward that I wanted to try to finance her medical treatment to get this thing cleared up. And our letters crossed in the mail. He was writing me to say that God had indeed answered those prayers and had completely healed her in the next few days.

And I shared that story and they said, no, it can't be that way. You didn't pray in faith. You've got to pray in faith for healings to happen.

And I said, well, the wonder of it is that sometimes God is bigger than our faith. Of course there's a prayer of faith. But even when we don't have the faith to believe that God is going to heal right then, we can still ask.

And we asked. And I didn't have the faith to believe. I thought maybe what God wanted to do was do it medically.

But God was bigger than my faith. Bigger than my lack of faith. And you see, when I bore witness to that, they began to get excited.

Because now it's clear we're not talking about magic. We're not talking about somebody who's come down with a formula, press the right button and it's going to happen. We're talking about a guy who doesn't have any more faith than the rest of you, but yet who has seen God do some wonderful things.

I shared with him some of the healings that we've seen take place right here at Truro. I told him just within the last month about the lady who had the cancerous tumor that God healed and the little girl who was healed of spina bifida who had no muscles in her legs and suddenly there were muscles beginning to form there. They were intensely interested.

They had never heard anything like this. And they were very much interested in it. By the time we were all done in the course of the week, we had looked at the whole range of ministry that the New Testament discusses, the whole range of the Holy Spirit's ministry, the internal work that He wants to do in making us more like Christ, and the external work that He wants to do of equipping us with gifts for ministry.

And we talked about all of the various gifts, the fact that we all have some gifts. We need to discover what they are. We need to develop them.

We need to use them. But we also need to be open if the Holy Spirit would want to give us other gifts, additional gifts, sometimes very dramatic gifts. We need to be open to that.

But I began simply by bearing witness to all these lovely things that we had seen. That was on the very first day, Saturday. The next morning, before we got started, one of the men wanted to speak to me privately.

You need to understand, of course, that everything is being done through translators. And this man wanted to share something with me, and I had previously sort of been very aware of him because everybody else was quite relaxed, everybody else dressed very informally, and this man, Jorge, wore a cassock throughout the whole time. Very formal, kind of uptight, very rigid, and you immediately knew that he was coming from a very high church, Anglo-Catholic kind of background.

And it wasn't at all clear how he was going to relate to some of the things we were talking about. But he wanted to speak to me. And here's what he said.

He said, I have never had a religious experience. But this morning, as I was reading the Scripture, he said I was reading about the Ascension. And I thought that I would just try to picture that in my mind.

Picture what it was like for Jesus to be there with His disciples. The apostles gathered around Him just before He was taken off into heaven. And He said, I really concentrated on that and I tried to imagine it.

And all of a sudden, there was no difficulty in seeing it. I was seeing it before my eyes. There He was.

And there were all the apostles around Him. And I could see it just like it was right there. And He said, and suddenly I saw myself.

I was on the outside of the circle. And I wanted to get to Jesus. He said, and so I started running and started pushing the apostles aside.

Get out of the way, Peter. Get out of the way, John. And I made such a commotion that Jesus noticed me, and He said, why are you dressed in black?

What should I be wearing? You should be wearing white. He said, it was so astonishing to me that it just broke off completely.

I didn't know what to make of it. he said do you think it was real I said I have absolutely no doubt it was real I said I'm not sure that I understand it it could be a reference to the literal cassock that you're wearing I said I really don't think so I said I don't know you Jorge but I would just wonder if the Lord was speaking to you about an attitude rather than a literal piece of clothing that maybe somehow your attitude has been one that serving the Lord is a matter of hard work and grit your teeth and you really have to labor at it and maybe what he's trying to tell you is that it's time to celebrate. It's a time of joy.

But whatever it means, I'm sure it's real. That was Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon we had an open service in Quito and I didn't really see that as part of the teaching series for the clergy.

It was open and a lot of people came in from town. And I saw it as a service that was simply standing on its own, separately. All the clergy were sitting up as the chalicers are here, and I was going to speak to the people.

And I had some notes in front of me, and the funny thing about it was I couldn't seem to get to my notes. I kept wondering when I was going to get to that. And instead, I found myself speaking in a very different direction than I had planned, speaking at some length about the day of Pentecost and about the way that the Holy Spirit came upon that first group of apostles and believers and empowered them with signs and wonders.

It really ended up being a very integral part of the teaching that I was doing to the clergy. And it was a tremendous service. And when I got all done with that, talking again about the fact that God is doing wonderful things, mighty things, miraculous things in our own day, It seemed right to invite people right then in the middle of the service, if any had any need to come up for prayer.

Maybe there's someone here who has never before received the Lord Jesus and you'd like to come up for prayer and do that. Maybe there's someone here who really would like to open his life to the Holy Spirit in a new way. Or maybe there's somebody here who needs healing and you'd like us to pray for you.

And I said, what I'd like to do is invite any of the clergy who would feel comfortable in doing so to come and join me in laying on hands and praying for those who come forward. And all but one did. One of the clergy sat it out, very stony-faced.

He was not ready for this, see. But all the others came and joined me. And about four or five people came forward.

That was kind of interesting because the very first one spoke English. And so the clergy didn't know what was going on, because he was talking to me, see? And what he said was, I need to receive the Holy Spirit.

Just that straightforwardly, he said, I want to receive the Holy Spirit. And so we laid hands on him, and immediately he began speaking in tongues. Right? And they didn't know what was going on, see?

Because they hadn't heard any of this. But all the others were Spanish-speaking, and so we had a very funny phenomenon. Somebody would come forward and they'd tell us what they came for.

Most of it was for healing. And so I would pray. And then my translator would translate that into Spanish.

And then all the clergy would repeat it. A little chorus. So we had the same prayer three times.

You really knew you got prayed for, see. And people began to get healed. There was a lady who came forward and she was, I don't know what the problem was, She was in great pain and kind of crippled up.

She couldn't lift her arms. Her back was hurting her, and we laid hands on her. Immediately it was gone, and she stood up, and she raised her hands up like this and just praised God, turned around, and bore witness to the congregation.

And, of course, that brought a whole lot more people forward. And so the line, rather than getting shorter, got longer and longer. And I felt moved to do something at that point.

it really seemed to me that a couple of these priests who were standing alongside of me were experiencing the power of God as they were praying. It wasn't just something I was doing. They were experiencing the power of God.

And so I said to them, you take half the group and go to the other end of the line. And you start there and we'll meet in the middle. And they started at the other end of the line.

And you know what? Healing's at the other end of the line. And people standing up and praising God and bearing witness to the congregation.

was absolutely fantastic. I asked them the next morning when we got back together, you know, what did you make of all that? And there was not a doubt in any of their minds that this was a genuine visit of the Holy Spirit that they were witnessing miracles.

And the bishop said, I am strongly rebuked because I discover that my people are readier to believe God than I am. He said, the people were ready for that. We weren't ready for it.

The people were ready. He said, how many years I've wasted in my ministry. If I had seen things like this at the beginning, my whole ministry would have been different.

Well, Tuesday morning, we were talking about the fact that the Holy Spirit still does speak today. He speaks to His people when they're ready to listen. He speaks with visions.

He speaks in dreams. He gives words of wisdom, words of knowledge, prophecy, and so on. And in the middle of that, I asked Jorge if he would share the experience that he had related to me from Sunday morning, the business of seeing himself on the day of the Ascension.

And he did that. As a matter of fact, he said afterward that at the very point you asked me, I was saying to myself, Lord, if this is really of you, then please have John ask me to share it. And if it isn't then don't let him mention it.

It was just my imagination. The very point that he said that I turned to him and asked him to share his vision. And so he shared the vision and he told about running up and Jesus saying why are you dressed in black?

And one of the other men said Jorge, what does that mean? And I said I don't think that's an appropriate question. That's between Jorge and the Lord.

I just wanted him to share the experience. What it means is between him and the Lord. Jorge said, no. He said, I think I know what it means, and I think that God would have me share it.

And with that, he whirled around and fell on his knees and buried his head in the lap of the bishop who was seated right behind him. And with racking sobs, began to confess that he had been alienated from his bishop, that he had had a broken relationship, that there had been pride and distrust, and would you forgive me, bishop? And of course the bishop dissolved in tears at that point.

And not only said, I forgive you, but then he asked Jorge's forgiveness. It was beautiful reconciliation. And the Spirit of God fell upon the meeting at that point.

I've seldom been in anything quite like it. One after another after another, right around the table, got up and bore witness to the fact that God was dealing with us. And they didn't just make a little sentence.

I mean, they make speeches. I think that's kind of Latin. They make speeches, all right?

And they asked each other's forgiveness right around the table. And they said things like this, this is the greatest day of my life, said one of them. The greatest day of my life.

Another one said, I gave up my ministry four years ago. And this day, God has given it back to me. Another one said, we have a new beginning in brotherhood this day.

The man who had sat it out on Sunday stood and said, the Holy Spirit is in our midst and this is the beginning. It was tremendous. I was unable to continue with what I had planned.

We simply had at that point to go and celebrate the Eucharist. And it was a Eucharist like I don't think any of them had ever celebrated. Certainly one like I have seldom been part of.

afterward I said to Karen you know tomorrow we're supposed to be talking about some of the more dramatic gifts of the Spirit tongues and interpretation and so on and I said you know frankly if God gives those gifts to some of these men it's going to be superfluous the Holy Spirit fell today it was palpable you could feel it in the room the Holy Spirit was there there's nobody who would doubt it I felt as if it was Acts chapter 10. We read that while Peter was still preaching in Cornelius' house, while Peter was still preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who were with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Ecuadorans.

That's right. That afternoon, the bishop said to me, you know what we need in Latin America is a charismatic church. He said, if not that, then pack up our bags and go home.

He said, you know, the Americans are sending enormous amounts of money into Ecuador, into the church in Ecuador. And for what? To conserve.

He said, we don't need to conserve, we need to be revolutionary. But I don't want to speak in tongues. That was Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday, he spoke in tongues. Wednesday, the Holy Spirit gave tongues and interpretations and visions and prophecies and singing in the Spirit in just the loveliest way. just sort of completed what he had begun the day before.

Gifts for ministry. Not everybody spoke in tongues, but everybody was touched. The two who came into it most dramatically were the bishop himself.

He didn't want it, but he got it. And my translator, and I must say, it's interesting to see what happens when a translator, when a linguist, gets tongues. he got verb declension syntax, noun derivatives and oral punctuation he got it all we're praying about this is a parenthesis but we're praying about the possibility that God would have him come here and in some way affiliate himself with what God is doing at Truro in order to prepare teaching materials for the Hispanic community.

You might just pray with us about that. He's a tremendously gifted linguist and a priest of God, and he feels that his time in Ecuador is over, and he's wondering what God would have next. And it just seems like maybe that would be something that we ought to investigate together.

Thursday was the last teaching day. I spoke on the priesthood of all believers and the fact that what had begun among us was not just for the clergy, but God wanted us to take it back. God had wanted them to take it back to their parishes and share it with all of God's people and let the church be totally renewed.

It was a wonderful day. A wonderful conclusion. Then I went back to my hotel and absolutely exploded.

I had amoebic dysentery. hit with a vengeance. I knew it was coming.

I had had this sort of coming upon me and the timing of it was interesting because God allowed me the strength to finish that last session just barely and then I was laid low. And I've been sick many times in many places. I have never been sick like that.

It was just unbelievable. chills, fever, shakes, dehydration, nausea, the whole thing so bad that we had to have a doctor come and he said yes, there's no doubt that it's amoebic dysentery some of you have heard the aftermath of this story said it couldn't be because you know that amoebic dysentery takes at least two weeks and usually takes hospitalization but the doctor said it's amoebic dysentery he said you ought not to be traveling tomorrow I said I'm going to go home I'm going home by morning I was afraid that I wasn't going to die and I called Billy and I said no way are we going to get to Shrinemont tonight I said you've got to cancel that and get somebody to meet me at the airport by this point I literally could not raise my head I've never been so sick struggled to the plane just before it took off a fellow came running onto the plane and handed me a note and it was from the clergy and all it said was we are praying for you we are praying for your health and for your return home and the minute that note hit my hand, something began to stir, and something else began to stir. I know a lot of you were already praying by that time, too, because Billy had gotten the word out, and God could hardly miss, you know, with the folks praying in Fairfax and the folks praying in Quito, and we were closer to heaven anyway by that time.

But in the course of four hours, by the time we landed in Miami, I was healed. And you can say, John, that was just a tummy upset. I believe I had amoebic dysentery and God healed me.

And I believe that it was a miracle. as awful as that last day was I want you to see the loveliness of the way in which this ministry had come full circle that the priests that I had gone to share with were now holding me up in their prayers and the fellow who wrote the note the one who signed it was one of the men that I just knew on that Sunday afternoon that God was giving to him a healing ministry. And I knew when I got that note that God was going to honor their prayers.

Paul said this to the Romans, I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may mutually be encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. And how lovely to be on the receiving end of what God was doing through their faith. So those are a few vignettes from a remarkable week.

In a country where the options have been, pretty much, Roman Catholicism that is absolutely medieval. Absolutely medieval. I mean, they are not dealing with the reforms of Vatican I, let alone Vatican II.

And that's literal. It's a religion of fear, of superstition, of authoritarianism, of legalism and bondage. It's really quite horrifying.

There was a death in one of the parishes while we were there and they were all set to have the funeral and the Roman priests drove up and snatched the body and told the parents, if you do not let us bury your son, he will fry in hell forever. And by the way, it will cost you 10,000 sucres, which is a lot of money for peasants, in order for us to do it. That on the one extreme, and on the other extreme, Pentecostalism, which for the most part is pretty wild and crazy and almost occult.

Those have been the options. And now in the middle of that, God is doing a lovely thing in a little church, the Anglican church. It's not a big church.

But it's a church that has word and sacrament. It's a church that has liturgy and history and structure. And now, the Spirit of God moving among its clergy.

I don't know what the end of all this is going to be. I believe God has begun a partnership. And it's going to be very exciting to see how it unfolds.

This summer, Bishop Casares and his wife are going to be visiting Truro. You'll look forward to that. And we're already dreaming about the possibility of having an all-Latin America Soma in Ecuador, perhaps 84 or 85.

But I just want to thank you for sending us, thank you for your prayers for us, and praise God for the wonders that he has accomplished. Amen. Amen.