Bill Subritzky's report on his visit to what was at that time known as the Toronto Airport Vineyard (November 29, 1995)

Bill Subritzky's Visit to TACF

How TAV Ministers Administers:  An Impartial Look

November 29, 1995
RE: Covering letter to an article on observations of administration of renewal meetings at TAV.

Issued by: Bill Subritzky
Bill Subritzky of New Zealand is an internationally recognized evangelist who is also widely known for his teaching and leadership in the area of deliverance ministry.

To John Arnott
Urgent: personal and confidential

I am enclosing a copy of a report that I have produced for the media in New Zealand. I plan to distribute it widely and I trust it meets with your approval. If you have any observations to make, please let me know as soon as possible.

Pat and I thank you and Carol from the bottom of our hearts for having had the opportunity to minister with you and the great blessing it has been to us in our lives.

Last night I was on Radio Rhema praying for the sick and I have never known such an anointing! May God continue to bless you mightily in all you are doing.

Bill Subritzky

November 29, 1995

Reflections on observations of administration at TAV renewal meetings
Issued by Bill Subritzky

My Visit to Airport Vineyard
November 19-27, 1995
by Bill Subritzky

1. I had been asked by pastor John Arnott to visit the Toronto Airport Vineyard church and speak throughout the week commencing November 20th.

2. He asked me to make my themes the preaching of repentance and also deliverance from demonic powers and the breaking of curses.

3. On the 20th and 21st of November, I taught in the Toronto Airport Vineyard School of Ministry to 70 students on all aspects of evangelism. The focus for this seminar for these two days was how to be an evangelist and how to preach the gospel. I found the students very attentive. On these days I was teaching the students for a period of six hours each day.

4. On Wednesday, November 22nd, I was asked to speak at a luncheon of pastors from around Ontario from various churches. These pastors' luncheons are held regularly. One of the great fruits of the Blessing is the unity that it is bringing among many churches. Churches which have opposed the Blessing have now turned right around and embraced it. There were at least 100 pastors present from a wide variety of denominations, eager to hear what the Lord was doing in New Zealand and also to hear my testimony.

I spent a considerable time praying with them after I had spoken at the luncheon. Many of them had been overjoyed by the move of the Spirit and even some who had opposed it initially were now embracing it fully as they saw the fruits of renewal taking place in their church.

5. During that day, pastor John Arnott asked me whether I would travel with him to another town called Orangeville to speak that night in a local church. This is one of four churches which have developed as an outreach from the Airport Vineyard. The Airport Vineyard church is engaged in planting churches in the local cities. Pastor John asked me to minister alongside of him that evening and again the focus was on evangelism, the Cross and the need to obey the Lord in every part of our lives. As the anointing fell on the meeting, many were touched.

6. During the next three days a conference was held at the Airport Vineyard. This embraced people from over 40 nations. There were some 4,000 people attending the conference during the day and at night visitors were admitted, swelling the numbers to over 5,000.

7. It was thrilling to be present and hear the testimonies of people from such a wide variety of countries. There was no doubt that this move of God is bringing great fruit around the world.

8. During the first two days of the conference I was asked to speak in four sessions to the full conference on deliverance from demons and the breaking of curses. The focus of the messages that I brought was the Cross of Jesus Christ, the need for repentance and obedience to the Lord. The messages appeared to be well received and the conviction of the Holy Spirit fell on many of the participants.

9. The main sessions were conducted on Thursday and Friday at one p.m. and all the conference delegates attended the meetings. At 3:30 p.m. workshops were held when the conference broke up into smaller groupings. Pastor John Arnott ministered powerfully but lovingly on the topic of healing of relationships. His wife, Carol, ministered very effectively on the area of healing through brokenness. Their messages were well received. Men like Monty Whitaker who have ministries to the poor, spoke on aspects of their ministry and Dr. Grant Mullen spoke on renewal and inner healing.

10.In addition to myself, there was a very well-known evangelist, Mahesh Chavda, bringing messages on the healing power of love and the need to proclaim Jesus Christ as our lord and Savior. His wife, Bonnie, also ministered powerfully. Throughout the conference the focus was on Jesus Christ and victory obtained on the Cross.

11.The music ministry was outstanding. The times of praise and worship glorified the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the outstanding worship leaders was David Fellingham who was part of the leadership team at Christ the King Church in Brighton, England and an internationally known song-writer, worship leader and author. He had brought a band of full-time musicians from the UK and they were a great blessing at the conference.

12.During the times of worship and praise, the Spirit of God fell mightily across the conference. Many people were dancing before the Lord and worshipping Him in music.

13.Although at times there were some noisy manifestations, the overall focus during the conference was the worship of the Lord.

14.The booklet issued to all the people present made it very clear that people should be considerate of others during the meetings. The brochure contained the following words: “If you feel you are beginning to detract attention from the meeting, we ask that you please move to the back of the auditorium where you can enjoy the Lord."

15.I found that as the anointing fell during the meeting, that some people manifested in various ways. Some of the manifestations were clearly people manifesting their joy at the presence of the Lord. As I found in many other meetings which I have conducted, when the anointing falls there can also be demonic manifestations and some of them were clearly demonic. However, I found that the counselors present were very sensitive to the anointing of the Holy Spirit and were able to deal with these cases very wisely. At no time during the conference did I feel that there was any lack of control in any way. People were obviously enjoying the presence of the Lord and it was wonderful to see people being healed and delivered sovereignty by the power of God.

16.In each of the main meetings, strong reference was made to the need to submit every area of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. An altar call was made in all of these meetings and quite a number of first-time decisions for the Lord were recorded.

17.Each night people gave testimonies of the effect of this Blessing in their lives. Some of the testimonies were quite extraordinary and it was clear that there had been great fruit from this Blessing.

18.My theme for the final night of the conference was repentance. I had been specifically asked by John Arnott to speak on this topic. As I brought the message of the Cross afresh and the need to turn from all sin, then I found at the altar call that at least 1,500 people came forward in an attitude of repentance and proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

19.There was a real attitude of repentance present in this meeting as people recommitted their lives to the Lord or surrendered to Him for the first time.

20.At the conclusion of this part of the meeting, John Arnott encouraged me to pray for the sick and we saw some very clear evidences of healing.

21.Throughout the conference I spoke to numerous people from many countries. For example, people from England told me that there had been a mighty move of the Spirit through over 5,000 churches in England as a result of the Blessing. I was told that focus now is becoming one of evangelism. In fact, I received many invitations from England and other countries to conduct evangelistic crusades. I met young people who had been throughout many European countries as well as African countries and Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and South America, encouraging churches to move in this renewal and also to move out in evangelism.

22.Dozens of people testified to me personally of the dramatic changes that had occurred in their own lives as a result of the Blessing. They had found a fresh joy in the Lord, a desire to testify and found fresh love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit in their lives.

23.The Toronto Vineyard church itself has grown from about 300 members to 1,000.Only the hand of the Lord could have enabled them to conduct six night meetings a week during the past two years. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have come to them from around the globe.

24.Their main church services are Sunday morning and Sunday night and the central portion of the auditorium is allocated to them and visitors sit in the sides of the auditorium. I had been asked to preach on the Sunday morning and again it was wonderful to see the obvious joy of the Lord present. I spoke on placing our absolute trust in the Lord and the message was well-received.

25.I am astounded at the wide range of churches that have embraced this Blessing. Many are non-charismatic and it is clearly the hand of God that is moving.

26.The main impression that I have of the conference is that a fresh emphasis in now coming upon evangelism. Churches which have experienced this renewal are realising that the Lord is requiring them to focus on the need to evangelise. To this end there must be the equipping of the saints and I thank God that this is clearly the focus of the Toronto Airport Vineyard church.

27.I found that throughout the meetings the focus was not on the manifestations but on the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the need to proclaim His name, the work of the Cross and the need for evangelism. This is why this wonderful move of God has swept around the world with such great power. I firmly believe the Lord desires to renew His church so that it may go forward and proclaim boldly the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

28.I must say that I have found pastor John Arnott and his wife, Carol, to be very wonderful people. In the face of fierce and unrelenting criticism they have pressed on, simply allowing the Lord to move mightily in the meetings. They have not tried to market in any way or exert any form of wrong control over this move of the Holy Spirit. To have done so would have quenched the Spirit.

29.Instead, pastor John as senior pastor of the Toronto Airport Vineyard church has focused on the Lordship of Jesus Christ and has exhibited Christ-like characteristics as he has led the meetings. His obvious gentleness, peace and joy is clearly evident to all. As a result, God has moved mightily.

30.I came back to new Zealand absolutely convinced that this is a powerful move of God to renewal and refresh His Church. if we remain obedient to the Lord, I believe that there will be great fruit if, as a result of having been renewed, the churches now move on into full-scale evangelism.

31.Pat and I came back to this country feeling totally refreshed in the Lord, with a fresh sense of purpose in serving Him and a knowledge of His nearness and love in our lives.