I realize that almost every week, there are people signing up to receive these weekly blog posts and/or the monthly ministry newsletter updates. Some of these “newbies” are joining because of having connected with us at the Holy Spirit Rallies and/or Ignite & Unite Conferences. But, there are many that have subscribed that we have never met face-to-face. Some have discovered us by “accident” while googling for those who teach about the Holy Spirit or perhaps have received from a friend a forwarded blog post or newsletter.
Because there are so many that we haven’t met, this post will push aside the regular mini-teaching and give a two-minute overview of who we are and how we got to where we are. To use a colloquialism, it’s our forty-plus years’ story in a nutshell. I will take what could be a full-blown book and condense it into just a few bullet points. Here’s the story…
- In 1976, I went to bible college in Waxahachie, Texas with the intention of preparing to become a senior (lead) pastor.
- In my final year of college, God fine-tuned our direction by having us place our sole focus on children’s ministry.
- After graduation, in June of 1979, Vickie and I began traveling in full-time ministry as Children’s Evangelists conducting what was then known as Kid’s Crusades. For the next ten years, we traveled from city to city some 48 weeks a year using children/family-friendly ministry methods in the crusades and saw many thousands of children and adults (no exaggeration) receive Christ as their Savior.
- In December of 1987, we traveled to what was then known as Zaire, Africa (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to minister for three weeks. (This trip could honestly fill several chapters of a book.) Entering Africa, we met and had dinner with pastors from South Florida, Tom and Mary Ann Peters, who were in Nairobi visiting their son and daughter-in-law. Long story short, God’s hands were big-time into this connection. Almost two years later in August of 1989, we stopped our traveling and became the children’s pastors at Pastor Tom’s church, Trinity Church International in Lake Worth, Florida.
- Vickie and I ministered as Trinity’s children’s pastors until July of 2014 and saw the children’s ministry grow to some 1,200 children. Here is something that I love, love, love. Being there for twenty-five years allowed us the privilege to eventually minister to the children of the children that were in our ministry when we first became the children’s pastors. I don’t have a clue as to how many children were saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and launched into their destinies, but God does! I do know that there are many that worked with us in those years that are involved in some form of ministry today. To God be the glory.
- What are we doing now? I could simply answer this by saying that we are declaring “TODAY is the day of the Holy Ghost”. But, I’ll add a few sentences of explanation. We left Trinity to step into a wonderful, powerful assignment of traveling across the nation and around the world working together with the Holy Spirit for this generation. In the Holy Spirit Rallies, we are seeing many baptized in the Holy Spirit as I preach and then open the door for God to fulfill His promise. (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:16-18,39). In the Saturday morning three-hour Ignite & Unite Conferences, we are teaching, training, and equipping those who minister to children and youth to know how to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, expect the supernatural, and launch children/youth into their daily ministries. Oh, and one more this thing about “now”. The blog posts and other communications about the Person and work of the Holy Spirit are reaching around the world. And, books are on their way!
There you have it. The nutshell has been cracked and you are in the know. But, you may want more information about Billy Burns Ministries. It’s just a mouse-click away. www.billyburns.com Want to speak to me about the possibility of ministry at your church? I am just an email away. Contact – Billy Burns
