PENSACOLA, FL John Davis met
John Kilpatrick as a child in the middle of Missouri. Paul
Wetzel, (Raymond C. Wetzels son) afraid that John and his
mother were in danger from a father and husband who was a tyrant
in Georgia, thought it was better if the two traveled with him to
Potosi, Missouri, to be in revival with them. Raymond Wetzel was
young John Kilpatricks pastor at the Riverview Assembly
of God, in Columbus, Georgia. The church where Wetzel would
hold his revival would be where John Davis was a son of the
pastor of that church. The relationship between John Kilpatrick
and John Davis blossomed over the years as the two men became
lifelong friends. Each man followed God in their particular
calling but one day John Kilpatrick would call upon Evangelist
John Davis to handle the heavy load of revival.
Davis traveled to Pensacola to receive a substantial gift for his Revival Center in Ozark, Missouri. He needed help at the time. He had turned down several invitations to come to Pensacola after revival had broken out but when John Kilpatrick offered to help the Revival Center he responded. Anyone who has been to revival in Pensacola and has seen it for the first time is absolutely touched deep within their Spirit. The one question that John Davis had was, "Why did this happen here with another evangelist and it didnt happen to me." Davis felt as if he had missed God and that he was being passed by. He couldnt understand why God hadnt allowed him to be in on the ground floor but questions like that are never answered with reason at Brownsville. It wasnt the money that John Kilpatrick was going to give Davis for his Revival Center but it was the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit speaking through John Kilpatrick saying, "COME AND SEE." As Davis began to feel the presence of God, more than being aware of his own disappointment he came to sense that God had a great work for him. While he wasnt on the ground floor of the beginning of the great revival, John Davis was going to see God wash him through the inside to push him toward what God had prepared for him all his life. Gods power struck the man of God in a powerful way and time after time Evangelist John Davis was laid out on the carpet by the Holy Spirit at Brownsville. The reality of his call began to penetrate his whole being. It wasnt the money for the Revival Center that God wanted to give him but it was the impartation and anointing of God for which he came. God was in the business of brain washing Davis in a spiritual river that was flowing across America. At the time a mighty change took place in his life. He didnt know exactly how God was going to use him; all he knew was that from now on it would never be the same. After going back home from Pensacola, he began to schedule meetings in the boot heel of Missouri. One such church was Brother Larry and Anne Davis church in Sikeston, Missouri. There was something new in his ministry. He began to see the power of God sustain him in meetings that would last into the early hours of the morning as the rain was falling at the small church in Sikeston. More and more he began to understand that he was made for this moment in time. As he laid hands on people they were healed and also received the impartation. Many lives were changed around him. One brother who operates a radio station in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, was hit so hard by the power that when he got in his car to go back home from one of the meetings, the power of God hit inside the car and the man began to shake in a violent motion. Danny Ramsey said, "Ill never be the same since the night the power of God flowed through my car. It was like a liquid atmosphere of love." John Davis was beginning to realize how God was using people in this move of God. It wasnt the superstars of the gospel that were being touched but like him, many others would be touched who had been burned out by religion. God was bringing his message to the church and like Paul of old, John Davis would be a fire starter across America.
We are here for just a season and I know inside those who love God want to be used by Him and many will never be in a place to do something but John Davis wanted to be used by God and God hadnt forgotten the desire of his heart. He began to seek Him in prayer and listened to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit.
In the Fall of 1996 he began to return to the southeast section of Missouri. With each meeting it began to be apparent that the power of God would come down in his meetings like it never had done before. People were
receiving healings from tumors and several were giving their lives to Christ under Holy Ghost conviction. John was no stranger to miracles but also John was a student of the move of God and he understood one thing about his own personal ministry it was exploding and he had no explanation for it. He had always prayed and sought God. It wasnt that he was praying more, or reading his Bible more, it was because God had changed his mind after he went to see his friend John Kilpatrick in Pensacola.
Many would say that John is friends with the Pastor of the great revival but thats not the point. You see whatever was happening in Pensacola began to happen in small towns in Missouri and the same freedom that people were feeling at the altars in Pensacola began to come through his ministry at home .
I was in Sikeston, Missouri, when John got the call from a tired older pastor, Gerald Baser, to come to Miami, Oklahoma. Baser was from California and he was near the end of his ministry in Oklahoma. He had prayed, like many men in the ministry, to see a great move of God in his church before he retired. Baser had pastored the great church for the last 19 years. Hungry for a move of God, he asked John Davis to come to his church in Miami. I saw John as he left that night from a three day revival at the National Guard Building in Sikeston to go to a place where God would flow His river in a fashion he had never in his life witnessed. John had a bright old red Dodge Caravan that had rolled its speedometer over a couple of 100,000 miles. He was prepared with his clothes hanging on a hanger across the back ministry tapes - books and all his needs were packed as he and his wife moved to where God would pour out His richest blessings on him as an evangelist.
We didnt hear from or see John Davis for a long time. Like many people who are on the field of evangelism, you hear how great their meetings are without really knowing whether it was evangelical hype or the real thing. As John entered into the fall months of the year, reports began to come back from the small farm town in Oklahoma near the Kansas border that full scale revival had broken out. It was a massive move of God that could have been called the Brownsville of the mid-west but it was different in several ways. As the cold Oklahoma winter flowed into the March winds, the heat in the Miami First Assembly of God was touching the whole state of Oklahoma. People were driving from Arkansas, Kansas, and even Texas to receive from God.
God moved on me in February to go to Miami to see what He was doing. As I left for Miami, Oklahoma, I got in my van and drove all night to Nixa, Missouri. It was one of the wildest nights I had ever spent on the road, passing through the small towns of Arkansas. Tremendous rain storms and strong winds were destroying small towns with tornados all around me. I was going to see what was happening with John Davis in Miami, Oklahoma. After staying with some friends in Nixa, Missouri, where God was touching people. I got back in my van and went to Miami.
I arrived very tired but very excited and went to see the pastor of the church. Gerald Baser sat and talked about what God was doing at his church. He knew it was revival but the thing that really got my attention was when he said, "From Monday to Wednesday we have visitors coming from as far away as Arkansas." I couldnt wait to be in service. Standing in the back of the church with the prayer team, praying for the service, I saw the commitment that was in the people at Miami. Gerald Basers son was the choir director and as the service started, the power of God swept the place. I guess the one thing that made me think, "This is like Brownsville," was that the same Spirit which was present in Pensacola was at the church in Oklahoma. There was no hype about this meeting. I soon found out that pastors were trying to make the all night ride between churches as far away as 250 and 300 miles just to get a touch from God to take back home. The power was there and as John preached, the people responded. He was a lot more free than he had been in September when I last saw him. I could tell he was tired as more than 800 people packed the church building on a Monday night. It was well into the evening when I saw him finally pray for the last people.
Was this revival anything like Brownsville? It wasnt the same type of Church. It was a structure built in the mid-seventies and it was a typical Assembly of God structure with the ugly carpet and was a very large building. As the sun set that night, people showed up in the parking lot from all over the four-state area. They werent the people of the church, but they were visitors hungry for God.
The day I was there, the revival had been going on for four months. As I joined those who were praying in the back rooms of the church, several were pacing back and forth seeking God before the service. Many would be left there to pray during the service while it was taking place. John Davis was also pacing back and forth as he came over and gave me a hug. Several in that back room were choir members and ushers the choir had been at every revival meeting since it had begun in the fall. If there was something of beauty in the church, it wasnt the building, but it was the choir. They started service and as the praises of God went up, the place was filled with the presence of God. There was an atmosphere of the presence of the Holy Ghost that you very often feel in a church service but it was different tremendous waves of HIS Glory were present as the river was flowing. The cloud of the anointing was thick as the power of God was in the house. All of Oklahoma was coming to this place because of the presence of God. Some were traveling from as far away as 500 miles for a touch of God. Many ministers were going back to their churches to carry that same Spirit of Revival with them.
John welcomed the people and as he always does, gave a stirring testimony about his family who had seen the power of God in the early fifties and sixties. As the ministry time opened up, the massive crowd moved forward seeking a touch from God. As always the lost came forward that night as the invitation was given. Many from the choir came to counsel these people as about 100 came to Christ on this Monday night. The meetings were held from Sunday through Wednesday.
The personal ministry was next as John Davis went out into the sea of people who were lined up. Hundreds at a time were prayed for as many were dropped under the power of God. You could see how tired the evangelist was as the 11 oclock hour approached. Out in the middle of the Oklahoma prairie was a church that had a massive revival going on.
As the meeting ended that night, John and I went for something to eat. I realized how tired he was those meetings had been going on for the last four months and the tremendous courage he displayed as the evangelist was like that of a work horse. I think many thank God for what is happening in America today, but God doesnt allow too much time to breathe a breath. God had his hand on John Davis Davis is an individual who has the endorsement of God upon his life and the work for him today as the Brownsville Ambassador is never ending. God is surely doing a last days work through the hands of this anointed man of God.
John was tired but he was happy because the one thing he wanted in his life was happening. He was in a full scale major regional revival with people coming from everywhere with an intense hunger for God.
In the last year John Davis has been in demand all over the world. In November Davis traveled to Sydney, Australia, and then traveled to Argentina. Davis never seems to tire as he was drawn to Bethel-Temple in Hamptom, Virginia, where he preached for 22 straight weeks in revival.
WASHINGTON D.C .
By the leading of the Holy Spirit, Davis felt a burden for the Washington, D.C. area where he is now engaged in revival atWord of Life Assembly of God in Springfield, VA. . The Remnent has traveled to Washington and will do a full story about the nations Capitol in the July issue. On July 14 of this year Pastor John Kilpatrick will join Davis in the Springfield Church to touch Washington. D.C. Pastor D. Windle Cover is committed to bringing revival to the Washington, D.C. area at Word of Life in Springfield, VA. Pastor Covers church is about eight miles from the center of the nations capitol.
Ambassador John Davis is the apostle Paul of the great revival in Pensacola. His message and his work has increased by tremendous proportions this year. It is his hope to touch this nation and the world with the message of the Pensacola Outpouring. He is truly one of Gods prophets as he preaches the last days John the Baptist message,"Repent for the Kingdom is at hand."