Q: You are one of Daystar’s newest programmers. Why did you want to be a part of Daystar and what has this meant for you?
A: I’ve been impacted by the faithfulness of the entire Lamb family and appreciate their commitment to reaching the nations through the power of media. Some of my earliest ministry memories, from my growing-up years, come from watching crusades and revival services on Daystar and asking God that He would use me like that one day. It was the honor of a lifetime to be invited to have a reoccurring weekly program on Daystar as we now get testimonies from around the nation of lives that are being transformed because of the gospel.
Q: Can you share about being called into ministry and how the Lord changed the trajectory of your life?
A: My earliest memories of spiritual awakening came from watching the Brownsville Revival on VHS tapes. Those images and stories became imprinted on my soul and my prayer became… “God, give me a story of my own”. Although I went to Bible College in my 20’s and received a ministry degree, I found myself working in the political field for nearly a decade until God opened a door for a part-time ministry job at a local church. In that church, we had a youth revival and saw God touch thousands of young people. That experience led to the planting of The Pursuit and we have seen the faithfulness of God across the Pacific Northwest now for the last 8 years.
Q: In the early days of church planting, your family faced many struggles. How did God sustain you through that time?
A: When we planted The Pursuit, we had no institutional or denominational support. In fact, we had the opposite. Although at the time, the rejection of other spiritual leaders weighed heavily on me, God used that wilderness season to develop a tenacity in my soul that endued me with courage and boldness for the task ahead. I was bi-vocational for the first 3 years of our church plant and worked in pest control to pay the bills. I spent more time in crawl spaces cleaning out rat infestations than I did preaching on a stage. But God honored the sacrifice of my life and responded with outpouring. Today we have an incredible staff of 40+ who are contending alongside of me for spiritual awakening and I couldn’t be more proud of the early days which were filled with hard work and sweat equity that produced in me a desperation for the things of God.
Q: How would you encourage someone who feels called into ministry but is facing a difficult road?
A: God doesn’t promise us an easy life, He promises us a worthwhile life. We are in sales, and God is in management. Success looks like obedience, and we ought to let God handle the harvest. But if we will be faithful to put our hand to the plow, and not look back, God will use every part of our difficult journey to bring glory to Himself. A God-given dream will always die in the natural before it lives in the supernatural. If God said, He will do it, and if you find yourself walking a difficult, refuse to give up for what awaits you on the other side is the goodness of God in the land of the living.
Q: Many people have written off the Pacific Northwest as a hopeless cause, but Pursuit Church is thriving! Tell us about the vision God has given you for this area.
A: In many ways, the Pacific Northwest is known as hard and difficult spiritual soil. When we told people we were planting a church in the Seattle-region, many of them laughed in our face. But if God can do it in Seattle, He can do it anywhere. I operated with an unyielding belief that God does His best work in the most difficult regions. This region is the opposite of the Bible-belt. Many are diametrically opposed to the work and ministry of the local church. But in the midst of great hardship, we have seen thousands come to the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. The Emerald City may have lost its shine, but the Church hasn’t lost her hope. Seattle belongs and to the increase of His kingdom and government, there is no end.
Q: You and your church are known for taking bold, biblical stances on important issues of our day. Why is it important for Christians to speak out on what many would categorize as “political” issues?
A: The Apostle Paul says the church is the “pillar and foundation of truth” in society. Because of my political background, I am uniquely aware of the need for godly voices in the public square of civic engagement. When the Church loses her voice, the world loses its mind. We saw this most prominently during the Covid shutdowns. While the churches were closed, our cities erupted into lawlessness and chaos. We took a stand and reopened in defiance of the governmental edicts and God rewarded that courage with increase like we could never imagine. We owe the culture an encounter with truth and the Church must again adopt a social willingness to engage of the issue of life, gender, family, and marriage.
Q: Have you ever received backlash for standing against the popular narrative on an issue? How should we respond when this happens?
A: Most of the backlash we have received has come from religious people, not secular people. That is the unfortunate reality of the state of the Church in the West. The culture wars are a proxy for the spiritual wars. I want to demonstrate a uncompromising allegiance to Scripture married to an unconditional love for people. I haven’t always done that well, but I am learning and growing. My encouragement to leaders and pastors is simply this… crucify your need to be liked, and “after doing everything to stand, stand therefore”.
Q: What does revival mean to you, and how can we see it in our churches?
A: I’ve been impacted by Bethel Church and their definition of revival… simply put, they say: revival is the “personal, regional, and global expansion of God’s kingdom through His manifest presence”. We all know and agree that God is omnipresent in every sphere of life and society. However, in the local church, the God who is everywhere decides to be somewhere. The Scriptures say, “in His presence, there is fullness…”. My commitment is to take people into the manifest presence of God and allow His transformational power redeem, restore, and heal every part of their broken life. In a revival, people return to the Spirit of God. In reformation, people return to the Word of God. My hope is The Pursuit is a place where both the Word and the Spirit change lives.
Q: We are seeing God move powerfully on college campuses and even in high schools in this season. What do you think God is showing us about this generation?
A: I so solemnly believe we are on the verge of another Great Awakening that will transform the religions landscape of, not only this county, but many nations around the globe. God is radically grabbing ahold of an entire generation, meeting them in dorm rooms, chapel services, lunch halls, and classrooms. Every recorded revival in history had an element of generational awakening. I believe that what God is birthing at places like Asbury University, Lee University, Regent University, and others, is an indication of spiritual hunger like I’ve never seen before. Hunger always precedes awakening. It is the first-fruits of any lasting revival. To quote Jon Tyson, “I see the cloud the size of a college kid’s fist” and rain is coming to America again.
Q: What do you feel like God is calling the church to do in this current season we are in, and what are some of the things God has put on your heart for this year?
A: I believe we are in a season of unapologetic boldness and tenacity that is sparking the flames of renewal in churches and schools all across the nation. If there was ever a time to call the Church to prayer, repentance, and worship, it’s now. Not every moment is created equal. We are in a unique season of opportunity to kingdom-growth and a harvest of souls. I feel as if there is an open-heaven invitation for all who are hungry to come to the river and be revied in such a way that it leads to societal transformation. This year, we are launching an elementary school as we seek to provide parents with educational options for the training and teaching of the next generation. Christian education will become paramount as culture continues to digress in the direction of apostacy and anti-Christ heresy.