COVINGTON, KY -- It was called the Winds of God Conference and it was in the dead of winter as snow fell and streets iced. A gentle blend of the Cincinnati and the Northern Kentucky area came together for three days of glory and teaching. The conference was sponsored by Mercy Place Ministry a non--profit outlet of Destiny Image Publisher, Don Nori.

The focus for the first two days was brought by Mark Hamby. In the two days that he taught on the moving of God’s people into the Holy Place he brought to light several situations and circumstances in the body of Christ that has moved every move of God backward into the form of tradition over the history of time.

"Almost every move of God started in a stable and ended in a glassed cathedral," this is what Hamby brought before the people of God and it set the tone for the whole heart of the meeting. Hamby was blunt very often telling the people that they have come to a place of full nourishment on the meat of God and not on the milk of dependence. He was very explicit in what he had to say. He challenged the audience in teaching them about three areas of moving into God’s presence. He first challenged the sitting audience to sing a nursery rhyme and bring them to the point of reality about the obedience that God expects out of His people. Over and over he sang the song, "How did Moses Cross the Red Sea," and then he explained his purpose for the song. "Many people miss the blessing at times by being too up tight. We sang that song to loosen people up." Hamby challenged the people in the word that he brought forth explaining that many people do not enter into the third dimension of God because they want to stay where they are in what makes them comfortable. Many read the word of God to verify what they already knew. He took a verse of scripture that spoke about the woman with the issue of blood that touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. Hamby said the women had been sick for twelve years. She had been to many physicians but all they did was take her money. Hamby explained that the physicians represented the religious leaders at the time. Many of them were so lost in their own traditions all they could do was take money from the woman and offer no relief. Hamby went on to say that it is much like that today in the religious churches. "All they do is take your money with no results." Hamby said women represented the people in the church today that menstruate and are unable to bring forth new life. The minute she touched the garment she was healed. God moved through what Hamby had to say and the reality of what was happening began to manifest in the meetings.

Hamby spoke about constants, variables, and temporary circumstance that God uses. He said that a variable is something that can change in the will of God. For instance, when God spoke to Abraham to kill his only son -- he spoke to him to do it at first. If Abraham would have followed through with what God wanted him to do, Isaac would have been dead, but just as Abraham was about to kill Isaac, God spoke to him to stop. What if Abraham would have followed through with killing Isaac simply because it was the first thing God said. What God had said changed and Abraham was able to stop in time to preserve his son. Many people hear from God and stop right there. Many would have gone ahead and killed Isaac because of what God had spoken to them. Hamby made it clear that many in the body of Christ are so settled in what they hear from God, they act as if God would never speak to them again. Many moves of God have been born in stables only to be moved to a cathedral where they die.

The constants of God do not vary. He gave some examples such as the Blood of Jesus. When these are changed by men in doctrine then they become heresies. These are the things that are constant and never change. Many have tried to change the word of God and have produced false doctrine. God is constant with the word of God -- It is God’s spoken word in written form recorded by holy men of God and it will never change.

He also spoke about taking a temporary circumstance and turning it into a constant. On Thursday night Hamby said the serpent that was used in the wilderness was a temporary thing that God asked the children of Israel to use when they were being bitten by poisonous snakes. The serpent raised upon the poll was for the particular time. It was not disregarded and years later it had been placed into use as a holy object in the temple. What the people of Israel had done was taken the serpent used by Moses and incorporated it into their worship. It had become a traditional thing that held no value at all for the people of God. It was only supposed to be used during that period of time in the wilderness by children of God but Israel turned it into a tradition of man. Many people in the church today can never move away from a certain thing that God did in the past and they begin to turn that particular thing or situation into man made tradition. God never intended us to stay where we are but he wants us to gain his knowledge by moving into a place where we can teach and help other people to come into renewal. Hamby said that God constantly changes and we should be ready to move with him when it is time to go.

Hamby spoke about the early church and how it had become a place where they took in new members daily. He spoke about how traditional church settings keep people drinking milk when they should be moving into the meet of the word. He said that people in congregations should be the in the place where they are able to teach. The church was never intended to be a place where people come to experience God but it was the will of God for the membership of the local body to bring people to the knowledge of Christ so they can be joined to the church on a daily basis, like the early church at Jerusalem did. Hamby said that the meat of God was to do the will of the Father. People who know the father should be about his business, winning people to the knowledge of Christ.

Hamby said very often people are brought into the church and immediately someone finds something for them to do to keep them there because they have to have a purpose. Very often God has more for them to do than just a job in the church. He pointed to the silk plants that were on the stage and said they have a purpose but they do not have a destiny. He noted that the silk plants serve a purpose but a silk plant cannot reproduce, that is why a person has a destiny. You see God just doesn’t want you to join the church for a purpose but he wants you to fulfill your destiny. To do the will of the Father is the meat of the word. He said revelation should be coming from the pulpit in many churches but instead many churches are purpose orientated without being destiny orientated. Hamby said that the words spoken from the pulpit should be spoken to the place where they will impregnate the people who are listening to them, so they will reproduce new life. God has called us forth for more than just a purpose in our church relationship -- He has called us forth for destiny. Mark Hamby was brilliant in his teaching. He offered so much in the short time he ministered that we would not have enough pages to contain it. There was a heavy anointing at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center while he spoke.

God was in the house and what was about to happen on Saturday night could not be contained in one man’s heart. Tommy Tenney came to the stage and did very little in teaching and preaching but it was what he brought to the pulpit that broke open the night for everyone who was there. Tenney from Monroe, Louisiana, spoke about the place where he lived as a child. It was at 114 Slack Street that he found an abundance of God’s grace through the powerful fellowship he had with his father,

. "My bed time was at 8:30 every night. My dad would tell me that it was time to go to bed. Many men of God used to come to the house to stay up at night and speak to each other about the great things of God. It was during these times that I didn’t want to go to bed. As my father would usher me off to bed many times I would hide at the top of the stairs just so I could hear the men of God talk. Many times as the men of God would speak around the old table I would notice that 8:30 was soon approaching and I used to take the men of God’s shoes off and offer to polish them just so I could be with them. Slowly I would polish them so I wouldn’t have to go to bed. It was during these times of fellowship that I grew and built my hunger for the word of God and ministry.

Tommy Tenney had come out of the cold weather and his voice was on the rough edge. The next day, which was the last day, he would have to withdraw because of losing his voice completely. It was what he did on Saturday night that caused everyone in the building to stand at attention to what God was about to do in the earth. Tenney once again spoke about the power of God that was unleashed in Houston on the day that God

showed up and drove a wedge down the center of a hardened plexiglass pulpit.

Tenney has caused a revolution to come about in the last year by leading people to seek the face of God. More and more we are hearing the same phrased uttered by several in the leadership of God. "If good preaching would have done it the entire country would have been saved by now. The move of God was in the building and it was coming through a man that is a sold out brother. Tenney in his time before the people encouraged them to be the foot soldiers of God. One symbolic act began the process of ministry this night. As Tenney called several pastors and Christian workers to the stage he began to wash their feet off with a handkerchief that he had in his back pocket. God was moving and he was moving in such a way that no one could stop it. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit many moved to other people’s feet to wash others as they came forward. People began to weep and the presence of God move into the place. The presence of God was extremely heavy upon the people of God. People could heard groaning and moaning in the Spirit all over the building. That’s how the entire night went and as each one left the building they took a firm assurance God had moved in this meeting.

The first two day was saturated by Hamby’s dynamic teaching. God’s presence was heavy during the entire first two days of the meeting and the Saturday night flow was a touch that flowed directly from the Holy Place. Tenney is getting a reputation of bringing the presence of God into a building with him. The main purpose of the this flow it bringing an awareness of what is the presence of God and what it can do to bring about revival.

The entire meeting was well represented by many of the major church leaders in the area. It wasn’t just one part of the Ohio-Kentucky area that participated in the meeting. Cincinnati was represented well in the fact that several of the leading black pastors participated in the meeting. Pastor Cleddie Keith felt as if God visited the meeting in a more intense way.

Pastor John Stevenson a black pastor from the Cincinnati area was the worship leader for the entire conference. The presence of God was felt deeply in the worship as the manifest presence of God was felt throughout all the services. It was cold outside but the warmth that was felt inside at this meeting will be felt in the entire Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area for a long time. The unity of Spirit wasn’t just a bunch of people talking, it was an actual fact that happened on a very cold Kentucky weekend along the Ohio River near Cincinnati.