Have you ever wondered how people get involved in Dunamis or how it has impacted their life and ministry?
As a regular series on here, we’ll share “Stories of Dunamis.”
These first hand stories will help you know what Dunamis is about, the blessings of attending a local Dunamis Track, and occasionally how to get more information on attending a Dunamis near you.
Read more on Pastor Bill Gestal’s experience with Dunamis, interviewed by Mary Ellen Conners.
Mary Ellen:
Bill, can you tell us about how you got involved with Dunamis, and why you were even interested in getting involved with Dunamis?
Pastor Bill:
Yearning for a Reformed Perspective
I pastor a church in Connecticut and we were on a journey to discover the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.
We had a number of friends from charismatic and pentecostal persuarsions that were breathing life into the church, but as pastor I wondered where could I find similar information but from a Reformed Perspective, and I remembered Dunamis and PRMI.
Experiencing the Power
So, an elder and I came down to the very first Growing the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit conference here, which was incredibly powerful.
As we left that conference, we said, “We have to bring the Dunamis Projects to our church.”
Bringing the Teaching Home
We left the Community of the Cross in May, and in early October of that year we had our very first Dunamis Project.
Over the next three years we had all six, and it has radically changed how we do church; it has been a great addition to us.
Mary Ellen:
So you said this has radically changed how you do church. What has that meant for you personally, and what does that look like for your congregation?
Pastor Bill:
Igniting the Fire of Prayer
For me, personally, it has really given fire to intercessory Prayer.
There are a number of intercessors in our church who I know are praying for me all the time; they pray for all our services before and then during the service.
Equipping Healers
In terms of the life of the church, there have been two big changes and one has been in healing ministry.
Two of our people who went through Dunamis had a calling for healing ministry and they came down to PRMI for the advanced healing course, which is excellent.
Bringing Healing to the Community
Their project was, “How do we start a healing ministry?” and each week, now, we have two or three prayer appointments, and not just from our church.
In fact, most of them come from other churches; even some of the Pentecostal churches in our area send their people to our prayer ministry.
Changing a Church’s DNA
The other way is in how our session lives and breathes, how our elders live and breathe.
We have become much more spirit focused, and some of it is the dynamics from growing the Church, and some of it is the dynanmics the Lord has taught us about waiting for Him in prayer, listening for God, waiting for his direction, and things like that.
And these things have really fundamentally changed the way we do church in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Mary Ellen:
That is really encouraging! If you’d like to learn more or to register for one these projects, go to the Dunamis Institute website and look at the events there.
