Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What Happens When God's Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People [Paperback]

Jim Cymbala (Author), Dean Merrill (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: April 1, 2003

The Times Are Urgent God Is on the Move Now Is the Moment to ... ask God to ignite his fire in your soul! Pastor Jim Cymbala believes that Jesus wants to renew his people---to call us back from spiritual dead ends, apathy, and lukewarm religion. Cymbala knows the difference firsthand. Thirty-five years ago his own church, the Brooklyn Tabernacle, was a struggling congregation of twenty. Then they began to pray ... God began to move ... street-hardened lives by the hundreds were changed by the love of Christ ... and today they are more than ten thousand strong. The story of what happened to this broken-down church in one of America's toughest neighborhoods points the way to new spiritual vitality in the church and in your own life. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire shows what the Holy Spirit can do when believers get serious about prayer and the gospel. As this compelling book reveals, God moves in life-changing ways when we set aside our own agendas, take him at his word, and listen for his voice.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As though blowing oxygen upon the dying embers of a fire, pastor Jim Cymbala revived a broken-down church in a rough-shod inner-city neighborhood through Christian faith. Twenty-five years ago, the Brooklyn Tabernacle could barely draw 26 people to a Sunday service. Nowadays the congregation is 6,000 strong--filled with converted prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, and homeless people, as well as yuppies and wholesome families. Although he's quick to give God credit for this miraculous success story, Cymbala admits that there may be a few human decisions that led to this Christian triumph. Most significantly, he made sure his church community embraced everyone, from all walks of life--no matter how distasteful or foreign. "Christians often hesitate to reach out to those who are different," according to Cymbala. "They want God to clean the fish before they catch them. If someone's gold ring is attached to an unusual body part, if the person doesn't smell the best or the skin color is not the same, Christians tend to hesitate." Thus, Cymbala encouraged his congregation to adopt the very same tolerant and accepting attitude as their God does. The results? Let's just say a church thrives in Brooklyn. Accomplished cowriter Dean Merrill helps this tender true story stay satisfying and highly readable. --Gail Hudson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Twenty-five years ago, Cymbala, worn out from pastoring two congregations, devoted himself solely to the dwindling band of worshipers at ramshackle Brooklyn Tabernacle. Today, the old building has been replaced, there are 6,000 worshipers at four Sunday services, the church choir wins Grammies and sings for Billy Graham's crusades, and Cymbala is asked to speak all over the world about how he did it. Although he believes he didn't do it--God did--Cymbala does have a secret: the church is first and foremost a house of prayer, he says, a place where souls can call on God. Accordingly, Cymbala established Tuesday-night prayer meeting as the most important church function (later, church members began a "Prayer Band" to intercede round the clock for all and sundry). With professional Christian writer Merrill's help, Cymbala tells not his church's story as much as the stories of individual souls whose saving illustrates the truth of his testimony that God responds to prayer made in repentance and faith. Cymbala considers his work part of the revivalist tradition of nondenominational Christian evangelism, and he cites 300 years' worth of the great revivals and revivalists often, adding greater interest to a book that voices some of the oldest Christian wisdom with the vivid immediacy of telling tomorrow's news. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; First Edition edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310251532
• ISBN-13: 978-0310251538
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (213 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Worship & Devotion > Charismatic
  • #9 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Protestantism > Pentecostal
  • #55 in Books > History > Americas > United States > State & Local

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire January 29, 2000

By Larry O. Sanders

Format:Hardcover

A powerful book on the real power of prayer. When I was given this title by a friend to read, I told him I'd put on my reading list of which there are >40 other books. He said "Put it at the top, I'm reading it for the 7th time"! If you want to know how Christ would have done things in the 20th century, read this book. Cymbala, relies on prayer to bring a multiracial church of just over 20 members to a church of over 6,000. He is not a seminary trained pastor with a slick message. His church does outreach as Christ did, they go where the people most in need live and work. He has great sadness for those pastors rate their value in "attendance, building and cash, the new holy trinity." This book is a great testimony as to how God wants us to be, loving, forgiving and merciful, with the people in most need of God. A tremendous book.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent testimony to God's power in our time. June 21, 2000

By Eric Lazarian

Format:Hardcover

In reading "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" I was struck by how God-centered the book was. It was not just a typical "how-to" on modern Christianity, but it was a timeless work that demonstrated the power of God that He sends out when we trust Him above all others and above all things. Pastor Cymbala did just that in Brooklyn. How refreshing it was to read about the Holy Spirit entering people's lives (people that most American Christians wouldn't have given a chance...) and changing them forever. Brooklyn Tabernacle became a place that God worked mightily because the whole church decided to admit to God that they had nothing else but Him, and that the power was all His. They could not trust in money, buildings, programs, famous people, websites, big staffs, high attendance, affluent neighborhoods, cutting-edge teachings, seminary training, human knowledge, big denominations, long-standing traditions, or anything else. Pastor Cymbala guides the reader toward the power of prayer in a healthy way, as well. We are not tempted to think that the mere installation of a prayer meeting will automatically force God's hand either. I loved nearly every bit of this book. Glory goes to God. I am now reading the follow-up work: "Fresh Faith".

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Behold, the power of prayer... January 5, 2000

By NotATameLion

Format:Hardcover

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire should be required reading for everyone in ministry. Within the framework of telling the story of his own ministry, Jim Cymbala illustrates the awesome power that can only be tapped when we communicate with God through prayer. This book has a lesson for all who will read it. This book will also inspire you with testimonies of what God can do in the lives of everyday people when His people pray. I heartily recommend purchasing this book.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire March 12, 2000

By "spasmbrain"

Format:Hardcover

This novel is a thought provoking book that makes one realize how far from the basics we have gotten. It makes one realize how our programs, newfangled ideas, and our contemporary worship have gotten in the way of how God would have us do His work in His kingdom. This book does not redefine prayer and God's love for us, however, it does emphasize the simplicity and importance of crying out to the Lord our God in prayer. It points out the blessings that we are missing out on because we do not call on God through prayer. It points out how God is able to work through us if we are in communion with Him in prayer. This book points out nothing new, everything is in the Bible. So many times we are trying to reinvent the wheel when the old one works as well as it did in the day of its inception. This book is truly inspirational by seeing what the power of God through prayer did for a dying church, and by seeing that God is a faithful God, and He will truly build His own church if we only follow His instructions and cry out to Him in PRAYER.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome challenge August 1, 2000

By joanna lucas

Format:Hardcover

I have now read this book for the third time, as well as attended Brooklyn Tabernacle on 3 separate occasions. It is an awesome church, and it shows what GOD, not man, can do. The book is, quite simply, life changing, showing how God took an inner city dying church and transformed it into one of the biggest churches in America. Everything done at the church is based on prayer, and the Tuesday night prayer meetings have lines forming around the block to get in. Jim Cymbala talks in the book about the lives that are changed, but there is nothing there that glorifies Jim Cymbala or anyone else at all. It shows how all of our Hollywood style programs in churches are simply a sham. After you read it, you will want to get copies for everyone in your congregation!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This work opened my eyes to what God expects of us. August 14, 2009

By Sort It Out

Format:Hardcover

Are you lifeless in church? Is your spirit dull? This book will lift your spirit because it explains how God wants us to run after Him and not put Him in a box. Yes, we need churches to teach us God's Word, but we also need those churches to pray more. How do we pray in church? Does someone lead us in prayer? Are the words written in a book? Let's just pray, all of us. Let's pray simultaneously! Be bold in prayer. Pastor Cymbala retells wonderful stories of his topsyturvy journey of his pastoring a church with no life (in the beginning).

The stories are amazing and he points out his weakness which actually makes you feel, "hey my pastor is just like me, my pastor is not above me. He's not better than me."

This book is easy to read. It tells about miracles, not unbelieveable ones but ones that you can imagine happening. It brought excitement to my spiritual lowliness. It has helped me understand God doesn't want robot worshipers or robot prayers; He wants your heart to be turned inside out for HIM!

This book is a best kept secret. God has anointed this man, Jim Cymbala. You will enjoy it. I already have a copy given to me by my husband but I am here at Amazon to purchase more to give out to friends and family. The book is inexpensive. Take the punge and find out what God wants from us and how it can change your life. Over and out.