PENSACOLA, FL — It was a night that many had waited for since the revival began in the seaside town of Pensacola. Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho came to the place he spoke about several years ago in prophecy. It was Cho who pulled a map in Seattle, Washington, and pointed to the place where God’s grace met man’s need. The question was asked, "Has God reserved America for judgment?" Cho took a map and pointed to the southern region of the United States. With his finger pointing to Pensacola, he said, "there is the place where it will begin."

During that period of time as Pastor Cho was visiting Casey Treat’s in Seattle the Brownsville Sanctuary was under construction.

Pastor Kilpatrick, after the building of the church, was standing in the cafeteria area and a woman came up to him with excitement in her voice and told him about the divine prophecy that had been spoken by Dr. Cho in Seattle. As warm as the Brownsville pastor was, he received the message but tucked it away in the back of his mind. Standing in front of his church on Thursday April 23rd, after more than three years of revival and more than 700 services, the word had been confirmed. Every town and every state in America has been touched by the power of God that flows through the sanctuary on the Mobile Highway. At the time the woman spoke to Brother Kilpatrick, he said the thought of revival just went in one ear and out the other. Pastor Kilpatrick, as a pastor of a large church, has often seen self-styled prophets pass through. Very often these individuals would speak a word but this word was one that had come from the throne room of God Himself.

"We finished the church in 1990 but we wanted to pray to allow the Spirit of God to touch our new sanctuary. On January 13, 1991, we opened our doors and one week later Sadam Hussein began the Desert War in the Middle East. Our pews were filled the next week as people bought prophecy books and felt the mood of the time. "

As Pastor Cho looked on, Kilpatrick explained the emptiness he had in his own church. With questions in his heart he began to ask, "Where is the God of my childhood?" The tremendous pressure of building for two straight years was beginning to take its toll. Even though salaries and expenses were met with the new church, the empty feeling in the pastor’s emotions and heart gave way to canceling the Sunday night service. Prayer began to be the ultimate object on Sunday night as many people began to tell the pastor he would lose his church if he didn’t pull away from the Sunday night prayer services. Prayer was the word on this Thursday night as the vibration of what God wanted to say opened the pulpit for Cho to come behind the great pastor to verify the opening statements of the Brownsville Pastor. .

The entire Brownsville Pastor’s Conference didn’t know what the Korean pastor was like. Many felt as if he would not be interesting and that he would struggle at delivering the message but when he launched out into what he wanted to say, he captured the audience with his outright humanity. He began to speak about a time when he only had three members in his church. "God called me to be a pastor and I had always desired to be used in great miracles and divine healing but God desired to use me in other ways. I began to pray five hours a day because I didn’t have anything else to do." Many in the huge audience began to laugh as the man of God who stood in front of the people had touched his audience with candor. God was moving through the man of God. As Cho was praying one day God began to show him what was about to happen in a vision of 300 people. "I only had five people but as I walked up and down in front of the church. I acted like I had 300 people because God had showed me what was going to happen. I was acting the vision out by faith. Many thought I had lost my mind but that’s how God moved for me." It wouldn’t be the last time that Cho would see the vision of more people as each level challenged the faith of the great leader. It would happen again for 3,000, then for 6,000, then for 10,000. It was at 10,000 people that God challenged the man of God to move to start all over again by faith. Once again the vision was 10,000 and from that vision the work increased to where more than one million people claim to be under the pastoral care of one of the greatest spiritual leaders in the 20th Century.

Cho knew the importance of America. "We never forgot that 50,000 American men gave their lives to guarantee our freedom in the south. "God is not going to destroy America but he is going to revive America." At one time in his message he looked over at John Kilpatick and said, "This revival will last until Jesus comes." At that time the entire group that had gathered rose to a mighty cheer in the sanctuary. Every nook and crannie had been filled this night as over flow crowds were in tents, and outside the sanctuary. It was a night that saw thousands of people wait in line to hear the great man of God. Even staff members of the Brownsville team had to sit in folding chairs on the main floor . God was in the house and it was the greatest encouragement the team could have received.

The one thing that many in the large group of pastors found out was that Cho was normal. He spoke about his mother-in-law and his wife and his daily day to day living as a normal human being. Many who heard him speak were touched by his candor and his amusing stories. He did make the point about his life as a man of God, "I am nothing without prayer. When I pray God moves through what I am saying and people are touched but when I don’t, people look at their watch, move around and are very unsettled." Cho was very specific and to the point about prayer saying that without prayer nothing is accomplished. Cho’s system of cell groups in the church have brought his Korean congregations into a number that now lists over one million believers. Cho stated that letting the layman minister in small groups makes a strong church. Using the laymen in the leadership of small cells has brought the Korean Church to where it is today.

Pastor Cho spoke about the importance of being able to use a newspaper. In late 1990, Cho launched the 700,000 subscriber (total circulation of one million) Daily News in Seoul with a staff of 500 full-time reporters all over the world, and with a Korean staff of 800 full-time workers and 400 half-time workers working on the great paper. Cho claims he started the paper as an effort to further affect his nation with godly morals and lifestyles--each issue includes four full pages of "Christian Material" and 24 pages of secular information. The Lord spoke to the man of God about starting a newspaper and setting aside a large amount of money for that project. He spoke about how expensive it was to have the paper. Cho said that after five years of publishing the paper he found himself on the brink of bankruptcy but God spoke to him to maintain and overcome. Today his newspaper is the fourth largest newspaper in the country and has great influence over the situations in government and the running of the country.

Cho spoke about the student uprising in 1986. He said that more than three thousand students at the university were on the verge of throwing the entire country into socialism. He was asked to come and speak to the President at that time. The president asked for his help and Cho told him that it was a disruptive spirit that had come to the country to destroy democracy. Cho promised his help as he called more that 600,000 believers to stand and pray together to defeat the strong hold. During this time Cho feared for his life, as he thought about a possible sniper in the crowd. The day of prayer came and as the massive crowd gathered and prayed all-day, Cho was directed by the Lord to move his massive crowd through the streets of Korea. As Cho began to move, the police said he didn’t have a permit. Cho looked at the police and said, "How you going to lock up 600,000 people." Even the rebelling students said they would meet them in the streets — when the 3,000 students found out there were 600,000 believers they soon backed off. It was a day when rebelling students were almost inviting the Communist north to come across the border but through prayer and the power of God, Pastor Cho came to the aid of his country. Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho spoke in faith over the Pensacola area and once again hope sprung from his prophetic voice as he said, "The revival will continue until Jesus comes, until Jesus comes."