(The following is an excerpt from Bob Nichols’ book, “How to Change Your Destiny.”)
I have not been able to figure my church out. We have always done what we are not supposed to be able to do. We have always been able to go where we are not supposed to go. We have been able to buy where we are not supposed to buy. We have been able to do things that others say, “will not work.” When we moved to downtown Fort Worth, Texas in 1976, several people said, “You have committed church suicide because everybody is going out to suburbia.” I do not have any criticism for that, but God said, “Go downtown.” Sometimes, I wondered why He wanted us to go downtown. But now I can see it, because the downtown area was going to become a focal point for our city. Praise God! God put us where He wanted us. God wanted the anointing and the power of the Holy Ghost in downtown.
Can you imagine Jesus sending out forms all over Fort Worth to determine what people wanted church services to be like? I cannot imagine Him walking around and saying, “Now, just why are you so discouraged with churches? What kind of a church would you like us to be?” And then we all go in the back room and say, “Oh my Jesus, we need to have sad singing. We have to change everything around. We cannot preach over twelve minutes because people do not have the mental capacity to handle over a twelve minute message.” You know, that would insult my intelligence. I make no apology that the Spirit of the Lord God is upon us and God has anointed us to see blind eyes opened, to see broken hearts healed, and to see marriages that are shattered put back together. We are seeing those whose lives that have been ravaged by cocaine, alcoholism, pornography, and filth being set free – praise God! There is nothing on this earth like the power of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to turn people’s lives around.