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DEAR READERS
"There was a man sent from God whose name was ... Bob!" In fact
on
December 30th, 1907, God sent Robert Hood Birch to be born in Rounthwaite, just
south of Brandon,
Manitoba. The future Pastor Bob was actually born in the middle of
a snow storm on the best wheat land in Canada.
Pastor Bob is now 95 years old and still living with his
second wife Margaret in East Vancouver not far from old Saint Margaret's Church (now West Coast
Christian Fellowship). Pastor Bob has become a legend all over
Canada for his prayer life, his pioneering acts and for his
prophetic stand for righteousness. His long anticipated authorized
biography, "PASTOR BOB - A STATESMAN OF PRAYER FOR
CANADA"
by Beth Carson, has just been published and is available by mail
order, see below. This is a Canadian book for Canadian Christians
about a real Canadian! I have watched my wife, Beth, patiently
research this remarkable life for five years. No small job as
Pastor Bob was alive in every decade of last century, and many
people had at least one anecdote about his godly influence in
their lives. At a time when the Church in Canada is coming under
intense pressure we can take courage and inspiration from a life
that proves that Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, today and
forever". We need that same spirit of prayer to descend on the
church of Canada now.
PASTOR BOB - A STATESMAN OF PRAYER FOR
CANADA
This is a story of calling, disaster, rebirth and astounding
influence, lived against the backdrop of the dynamically growing
city of
Vancouver through most of the twentieth century. In his thirties,
Pastor Bob surfaced miraculously from a deadly disease, alive but
burnt-out as a pastor. Thirty years later, reluctantly pastoring
at St Margaret’s Church, out of his depth, out of his comfort
zone, with problems at home and conflict in his church, this
serious 60-year-old was being loosened up by the Holy Spirit and
ambushed by a hippy invasion. Through extreme prayer, he led
thousands of (mostly young) people to lead lives full of meaning.
In his seventies he pioneered Burnaby Christian Fellowship, another cutting edge
church, and in his eighties he confronted
Vancouver like an Old Testament prophet and established Watchmen
for the Nations, a nationwide group of
prayer warriors committed to extreme obedience to the Holy Spirit
for the sake of the destiny of Canada.
What can we, as intercessors, learn from the life of Robert
Birch? These quotes from the book give some answers.
1.
HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SINGLE-MINDED
One of young Robert's jobs was to deliver a bucket of milk to a
neighbour before school. One morning, carrying the milk, Rob
decided to experiment by walking with his eyes shut. Being a
thorough child, he didn't cheat. Result: he fell off the sidewalk
and spilled most of the milk. He then filled the bucket up with
water from the ditch and the neighbour kindly kept the secret.
In his University days, Rob was known as thorough, serious and
hard working - lazy friends would copy his notes. He played grass
hockey and Canadian rugby, turning out doggedly on frosty mornings
wearing clothes that had frozen overnight in the gymnasium.
From a letter telling of his conversion, August 1928: "I wish to
forget self entirely and to be filled to overflowing with the Holy
Spirit that I may do His will in every smallest thing."
Sermon 1973: "Lord, make me alarmed and make me amazed if I find
my love, my zeal, my faith, God's Spirit in me declining."
2. HE BELIEVED GOD WANTED TO DO MORE, 'RELIGION' WAS NOT
ENOUGH
1965: "Shouldn't we see, in our time, the sort of things we read
of in the book of Acts?"
1969: During Sunday services, the hippies would wander in and sit
anywhere, not nicely at the back as he had hoped. "How long do I
have to put up with this?" he asked. "Until it stops bothering
you," was the Holy Spirit's answer.
1970: "Liturgical or extempore prayers - one can be as dead as the
other or as living as the other."
1970: "I want you, even as I am speaking, to be receiving this
now... Even as the preacher talks, there should be healing; even
as we sing, there should be salvation. Something should be
happening while we are talking; something is happening while we
are praying; something is happening while we are worshiping: it
did with Jesus."
Sermon: "If you don't hear from God in the company of God's
people, then we are hypocrites; we are a shame and a disgrace."
1996: "I believe it's very serious to preach if you don't have any
message from God."
3. HE WAS DESPERATE TO HEAR GOD, TO GROW IN SPIRITUAL INTIMACY
Praying in tongues: "this very sacred gift, of intimate spiritual
communion with God."
1967: "Those who most honour the Spirit are given the greatest
love for the Son."
It was known that if Pastor Bob didn't hear from God, he wouldn't
leave his office... He always wanted to have God's word for anyone
who came to speak to him. He didn't speak lightly. People were
aware that he was praying as he spoke, listening to God, and they
felt he gave them the mind of God.
Sermon: "Don't grieve the Holy Spirit; for if you grieve Him, who
will lead you?"
Sermon 1996: I don't think we fully understand how radical it is
to be born again. And because we don't understand the radical
nature of it, we don't continue to give priority to our spirits.
We tend to give more emphasis to our emotions and to our mind."
4. HE WAS BOLD TO SPEAK WHAT HE HEARD FROM GOD
1967: "It may be for us to choose between the fire of the Holy
Spirit in revival, or the fires of Judgement."
1970: "What do you sleep in in the morning for? We haven't long!"
1971: "You say, 'Isn't it awful what goes on downtown?' Have you
ever been downtown sharing Christ? You say, 'Isn't it awful what
goes on in my neighbour's house?' Well, have you been in your
neighbour's house sharing Christ?"
1989 (quoted in the Vancouver Sun during his opposition of
the "Gay Games"): "I'm not a young upstart with a fanatical idea.
I'm one who realizes the dangers of sin and rebellion against
God."
5. HE DISCIPLED YOUNG BELIEVERS
1970: People, young and old, who joined him for prayer in the
quiet morning hours, learned how to be still in the presence of
God - as one described it, "... learned that God's first language
is silence and that listening is foundational to knowing the
Lord."
There was a long line of younger people mentored by Pastor Bob,
those who walked and talked with him, prayed with him at all hours
and learned from him how to hear the Spirit's voice. But it was
tough to be mentored by Pastor Bob... On one trip in the mid
1970's, he wore out his young companion with his walking, praying
and witnessing, first in
Athens and then Jerusalem. As his young companion collapsed into
bed, Bob said, "I think I'll tarry a while in prayer." At 4:00 am
there he was, still praying next to an unruffled bed.
6.
HE PRAYS IN SECRET
1970: "What have we done to bring all these people? We were
praying in secret; that is all."
1980's & 90's: Pastor Bob traveled in order to pray wherever God
led him, to see first hand what the Spirit of God was doing around
the world and to encourage other ministries. Like Paul visiting
the young men he had left in various cities around the
Mediterranean, Pastor Bob was eager to bless and pray for the
servants of God.
1991: Just before his wedding, Pastor Bob's young Watchmen
friends asked him to a "prayer meeting". When he arrived he found
all sorts of old friends there, with refreshments and a gift. He
chuckled when he realized he was having a stag party. But the
high point of the evening was prayer.
PASTOR BOB - A STATESMAN OF PRAYER FOR
CANADA
340 pages, many photographs.
To request mail order information, please email
bethcarson@shaw.ca
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