63 :: Antioch International Church

This evening, we worshipped at Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Beth and I had set out to attend an entirely different worship event in South Carolina, only to find out that there was a wedding in that church. We walked away from that church disappointed and wondering what to do. I made the case that we would drive around and see what might happen.

Something happened.

As we drove around South Carolina, we passed a sign that said "WORSHIP HERE, TONIGHT!" I did a u-turn and we entered Antioch International Church a few minutes later. We sat near the front. 

For Beth, such a quick pivot from driving to being in a church was, in her words, "intense." 

For me, this was just the kind of thing that I love. Quick, unexpected, fun. 

As we walked in, I turned to Beth and smiled, saying, "These are your Ethiopians!" 

She laughed. 

(For context on what this meant, see blog post #40).

We entered a massive sanctuary that had a huge sound stage at the front. Flags from around the world adorned the ceiling. A nine person band played on the stage. Most of the music was from Bethel Church. A woman waved a flag with a Star of David and the Lion of Judah. At the front of the church were banners with the names of Jacob's twelve sons, who are also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel. I glanced backward and noticed that both the US and Israeli flags were draped together in the back of the church. Between songs, one of the band members lifted up a prayer for Israel, which is currently in a state of war.

This was clearly a church that esteems the Holy Land and its people in a very direct and tangible way.

A peruse of the church's website shows that this is a church that holds Israel in a very special regard. It also shows a great deal about the church's founder, Dr. Peter Wyns. Since Dr. Wyns was not at the church on this Friday night, I can't say anything about him. 

The band was solid and got better throughout the two hours that we worshipped. Some of the music that they played was known to us, other songs were new to us. The style that they conveyed for their music could be best described as weighty and, at times, ominous. That's not to say it was not enjoyable, it was.

There were brief pauses between the songs, we could hear people praying in their prayer languages. This idea is akin to the idea of speaking in tongues but is different. A prayer language enables the speaker to communicate a perfect prayer to God in a way that is incomprehensible to demonic forces. And there was a good bit of it happening at Antioch International Church. 

At one point, the woman standing in front of us turned to us and said she had been given a word for us. The point she conveyed was actually quite salient to something happening in our lives right now.

Being "given a word" for someone is a spiritual gift in which the Holy Spirit conveys something to a person through another individual. It is the kind of thing that you would see at a church where people are praying in their prayer languages. 

This had proved to be a very cool turn of events.

At one point, a young boy walked to the front of the church and said that he had been given a vision earlier in the week. He referenced John 9:1-12, in which Jesus healed a man who had been blind since birth.

"As he went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

After saying this, He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” He told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

“Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

The boy said that God had given him a vision in which the world would soon have its spiritual blindness corrected through Yeshua washing the mud and dirt off of our eyes.

So, yes... things were turning out to be rather fascinating at Antioch International Church. 

At the end, people came up to the front of the church offering "prophetic ministering and prayer." Beth and I sat there and watched people walk up front. Ecstatic words started to flow from the small clusters of people that had assembled together. 

We didn't feel called to join them at the front and decided to leave. 

As we walked out, a man named Luke walked up to us and said he had not seen us before. He said that he was glad that we had joined them that night and that he hoped we had enjoyed ourselves. We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes and then proceeded to make our way out.

Beth and I both have observed how nice it feels to be greeted and acknowledged.

This encounter at Antioch International Church was unexpected, intense and very interesting. I sense there are so many more things to know about the place, but that we found this place by happenstance (really, providence) and encountered a place awash with the spiritual gifts was really fortuitous. We were grateful for such an opportunity.

Sincere thanks to Antioch International Church for the great experience.