Curry Blake of John G. Lake Ministries

Once in a while, you encounter some minister you’re especially impressed with. I love Pastor Joseph Prince’s message of grace and his preaching. I love what Bill Johnson has done with his church and equipping people to go out and do healing. I love John Wimber, his teachings and his influence upon the charismatic church.

Maybe even above my admiration for the above three people is my admiration for Andrew Wommack and Curry Blake. These two ministers aren’t as well-known as the above three, yet what makes me admire them so much? As I reflect upon this question, I think it boils down to them living a lifestyle that’s consistent with their beliefs – especially in the area of giving (money) and sacrificial service. These are two ideals which are very important to me simply because I see them so neglected in Christianity – and because they’re things that are the greatest challenge for me.

I’ve mentioned Andrew Wommack before a few times. His teachings are really good stuff (he’s probably the best and most balanced Word of Faith teacher around) but the thing that really strikes me about him has a lot to do with his view of prosperity and his lifestyle in relation to that. He’s a minister in the Word of Faith tradition, yet he’s so different from many others within this tradition. Firstly, he truly believes that prosperity is to bless others and not to use it on oneself – see some quotes by him here. He doesn’t just preach this, but lives it out too. If I recall correctly from hearing his sermons a while back, he’s still living in the same home as he’s lived in for years or decades – compare that to other Word of Faith preaches around! His sermon CDs are given away free and the mp3s of his sermons are all downloadable for free on his website and he doesn’t believe in manipulating people to give money to his ministry. He has simple faith in God to provide for him and his ministry. And (if I recall correctly again) he’s not the kind of minister who disappears after his sermon – i.e. he’s there and available to talk and minister to people even hours after the service is over, which is unlike so many “big shot” preachers who are just too important for the lay people.

Curry Blake is the overseer of John G. Lake Ministries and is very similar to Wommack in his beliefs and practices regarding healing. I just got to know about him 2 weeks ago and since then I’ve been reading up on him and have listened to about 20 hours of his teachings. I’m hoping to write more in subsequent posts about his unique beliefs on healing. Reading about and listening to what he believes regarding healing has been godsend. Over the last year (and especially so the past few months), I’ve been reading so much about healing and have had so many questions in my mind – and I’ve asked so many people about this and that regarding healing. And what he’s preached has addressed a lot of the important questions I’ve had – I won’t say he’s answered them because I’m still evaluating and thinking through what he’s said/written. But he provides a very refreshing and unique perspective (from people like Bill Johnson) and I’m quite drawn to his views.

But anyway, his unique beliefs aren’t why I’m impressed with him. Like my admiration for Wommack, it’s not about his beliefs, but more of his lifestyle. Two things I heard (in his sermons) have amazed me. First, he mentions how he’s always available on the phone to pray for people. This stems from an incident whereby his daughter died and he desperately tried to get in touch with men of God who were gifted in healing so they could pray that she would raise from the dead. He didn’t manage to do so. Because of this incident, he decided to make himself available to everyone who wants him to pray for healing. If I’m not wrong, he can be reached through cell phone even in the early hours of the morning. Which minister makes himself available to everyone like that??

Even more amazing was how at the end of a TV program he was on, he told those people living in the city he was in then to call the station and leave their numbers and address if they wanted him to pray for their healing – he would go personally to their house to pray for them. The TV program received I think a thousand (I think) calls and he spent the next 6 weeks moving from house to house and healing people. If that’s not insanely admirable, I don’t know what is! How inspiring is his heart to make himself available to people in order to serve them! And I think what he did doesn’t just reflect his heart for people, but also how much he believes in his message that everyone can be healed. It’s easy to lead a big meeting of hundreds and thousands of people and in the end not be in personal contact with those who didn’t get healed. But when you offer to go to their homes to pray for these people personally and heal them, you better believe in what you teach because if someone doesn’t get healed you may have some explaining to do! Many charismatics say they believe God can and desires to heal every sickness. But I have come across few people who lives as consistently with such a belief as Blake does.

Anyway, I heard about the above through Curry Blake’s Divine Healing Technician course – you can download the 19 mp3s for free and if you listen to them, do let me know what you think of them. Sid Roth also has an interview with him which you can download. More about my thoughts on his beliefs in future posts!

PS: I’m going to attend one of his Divine Healing Technician training course in America (in Arkansas) in early July and am quite excited! As I mentioned, he has a slightly different perspective on healing from most people I’ve learned from – including Bill Johnson (I’m attending the Kingdom Culture Conference at his church in June – super excited too!) – but I’m quite open to learn from all.