Evangelist Todd Bentley, whose unorthodox appearance and methods have attracted worldwide attention, will leave the long-running revival he has led here, it was announced Monday, although the local pastor who brought Bentley to Lakeland vows the revival will continue.
LAKELAND | Bentley’s last day leading the Florida Outpouring revival will be Aug. 23, said Lynne Breidenbach, revival spokesperson. The enormous white tents on the grounds of Sun n’ Fun Fly-in, where the revival has been held since early June, will be taken down after that night’s service.
The Florida Outpouring began at Ignited Church of Lakeland on April 2, with Bentley, a 32-year-old Canadian, as a guest evangelist. Bentley was originally scheduled to lead services for a week, but when large crowds began flocking to the church, he agreed to stay on, and the revival has continued every day since then.
Hundreds of thousands of people from across the United States and the world have attended the revival, which outgrew at least four venues before tents were set up at Sun n’ Fun. Early on, the services were streamed live over the Internet, and some observers have credited the Internet for the rapid growth of the revival.
During the past several weeks, Bentley occasionally has been absent from the evening services, turning them over to guest evangelists or associates of his evangelistic ministry. He will return to lead the services tonight, but he already has scheduled appearances at revivals in Los Angeles; Louisville, Ky.; and Spokane, Wash., before Aug. 23.
“He’s going to be here regularly, just not seven nights a week,” Breidenbach said.
After leaving the Florida Outpouring, Bentley will conduct revivals overseas, including in the United Kingdom and Sudan, according to his ministry’s Web site.
The Rev. Stephen Strader, pastor of Ignited Church, said Bentley made the decision to relinquish leadership of the revival last week.
“He and I had both been praying about what God wants us to do,” Strader said. “There have been all sorts of rumors, but everything is OK. This has nothing to do with anything else.”
Ignited Church will continue the revival, holding services every night after Bentley leaves, Strader said. And he is negotiating with other Lakeland churches to host services a few nights a week.
“We’re ready to take over. We don’t know at this point what venues we’ll use,” he said. “Most services we’ll be able to handle here at Ignited. We do anticipate crowds dropping off after Todd leaves.”
I certainly hope its the end of this.