SOS by e-mail defeats shutdown of revival Religion Today Thursday, September 9, 1999 When police threatened to shut down revival meetings held in a tent in Sherwood, Ore., last week, evangelist Jerry Gaffney took action. Gaffney, an itinerant preacher from northern Washington, had conducted four weeks of successful, sometimes loud, meetings on the property of New Life Assembly of God. He "had all the permits the city could issue," he said, but after a particularly enthusiastic service, police told him he would have to close down the meetings. Noise bothered neighbors Neighbors did not appreciate the joyous praise, Gaffney said. During one service, more than 100 people were set free from heavy burdens including abortions that had never been confessed, homosexual affairs, theft, lying, and addictions, he said. After that, "the Holy Spirit broke out in the most wonderful worship you have ever heard" for almost two hours, he told Religion Today. Without a worship leader, "we sang song after song after song. It was wonderful. People stood up and sang solos. We sang in the Spirit and we sang to Jesus. All of us felt as if we were in heaven. At 12:30 a.m. almost no one had left." The praises "rang out with the clarity of a chapel bell," Gaffney said. "The singing could be heard almost a mile away." The following day, police called the church because of the noise, and "said we could not sing and worship that way," he said. The next day, Gaffney preached to hundreds of people but had "no speakers, no microphones, and no musical instruments." Yet he considered the police's action to be an infringement of the freedom to preach the Gospel, and that night fired off an "emergency" note by computer to Christian e-mail networks, asking people to pray for the meetings and for the police, and to attend the next day's final gathering. 'Boy, did it work' "Well, I want to tell you I have never seen such a response in my whole life. It seemed like the whole world was praying - and boy did it work," he said afterward. The email networks, including those run by New Jersey church historian Richard Riss and Phil Miglioratti of the National Pastors Prayer Network, faithfully transmitted Gaffney's request. Gaffney received 466 emails from around the world. State Sen. Dan Swecker heard about the situation and called city hall to put in a good word for Gaffney, the evangelist said. National magazines and television networks called to find out what was going on, and churches, national ministries, and lawyers called to offer their support. "I have never seen such favor of God. I want to thank you all for having the heart to pray." Some people drove hundreds of miles to be at the scheduled final meeting the next day, Friday, Sept. 3, Gaffney said. They arrived from 45 churches in California, Washington, Idaho, and Oregon, including congregations that are part of the Assemblies of God, Foursquare, Vineyard, Baptist, Mennonite, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Dutch Reformed, and Episcopal churches, he said. Later the police chief "basically apologized to [New Life Assembly of God] pastor Jeff Dorothy by saying the sergeant had no authority to close us down," Gaffney said. "For the body of Christ in this area, it woke them up. Even though this is America we can take nothing for granted."

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