book review by Carol Lee

" ‘Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God,’ says Romans 8:14. Read the gospels and look for Jesus’ daily agenda. It just isn’t there. Scan the book of Acts to find the apostolic liturgy. You’ll come up empty. What you will find are people moving in spontaneous obedience as they are propelled by the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit."

It is most difficult to write a book review on a book that is so packed-full of inspired words and testimonies of faith in action. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, by Jim Cymbala (with Dean Merrill) is one such book. It begins with a vivid chronology of Jim and Carol Cymbala’s spiritual walk as a young pastoral couple in an all-black church in New Jersey. Their lives were fatefully changed when Pastor Cymbala’s father-in-law asked him to be a guest pastor at the flailing Brooklyn Tabernacle. The early days of their step in obedience was characterized by weekly offerings of $85, a church mortgage of $232/month, an annual salary of $3,800 (while the national average was $14,000), theft of the offering plate by a church usher, and a rag-tag team of "choir members". The book then traces the miraculous growth of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, from a membership of 12 to over 12,000; it marks the beginnings of the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, led by Carol Cymbala — a musician and praise music writer who never read a note of music — and supported by a band with a similar lack of formal musical training. The book then goes on to tell the stories of real people who were found by God through the Tabernacle at most critical times of their lives and in most amazing ways: Roberta, the beaten and abused drug addict living next door to the Tabernacle, who, despite being high most of the time, could not stop the songs of praise from penetrating her apartment walls and, eventually, her soul; Ricardo, the drug-addicted, transvestite pimp, who, after attending the Tabernacle for a month, gave his heart to the Lord and became a "real" man again; even Pastor Cymbala’s own daughter, Chrissy is featured in the book. In a powerful and transparent personal testimony, Pastor Cymbala tells of the spiritual struggle experienced by himself and his wife in their efforts at balancing their ministry life with the challenges of raising a teenage daughter in the heart of Brooklyn. Just when they thought they were losing their first-born to the Enemy, mighty God came to the rescue when called upon by the prayer and petition of the body of Christ.

Although the book is packed with diverse elements, including personal testimonies, biographical details and Biblical teachings, one main principle permeates throughout: God’s holy power to change lost and sick people when called upon by prayers of desperation by His people. ("If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14). Pastor Cymbala elaborates: "Does the Bible ever say anywhere from Genesis to Revelation, ‘My house shall be called a house of preaching’?…I have seen God do more in people’s lives during ten minutes of prayer than in ten of my sermons." Pastor Cymbala very effectively drives his points home by recalling vivid examples from the Bible. He recalls that in the book of Acts, Jesus launched the Christian church not while someone was preaching, but while people were praying: "What does it say about our churches today that God birth the church in a prayer meeting, and prayer meetings today are almost extinct?" It is by calling desperately upon God’s name through prayer constantly, persistently, boldly, that we are able to overcome the Enemy’s schemes of distracting us from perceiving and seeking the best things of God. We cannot sit idly in passive knowledge of our salvation, nor can we be "lukewarm" in our Christian lives; rather, we need to constantly call upon His name everyday, every hour, in order to receive the fresh wind of His breath and the fresh fire of his power and love: "…we all have to face our lack of real power and call out for a fresh infilling of the Spirit. We need the fresh wind of God to awaken up from our lethargy."

There is too much solid food in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire to be able to summarize it all in a short review. What I can say is that I found the book hugely inspiring and insightful, and it confirmed in me what I have been recently experiencing as a rookie in both the teaching field and in prayer. Since beginning to teach high school this September, I have found it impossible to get through a day of constant "relational overload" – with harried and overworked staff, stressed-out administrators, and testy young adults – without seeking God’s power and spirit first thing in the morning and throughout the day. Although teaching is exhausting and often mind-numbing (I often wonder whether I should have just stayed in the comparatively sedate publishing industry), I know that God wants us to follow His call to each of us individually, and not be fearful or tired of being "in the thick of life" in order to truly feel the pain of it – it is all around us. Perhaps it is only by engaging in life, in relationships – as Pastor Cymbala and his wife have done – that we might be provoked to pray. We must call upon His name daily, hourly, to seek His fresh wind and fresh fire in order that we may be active and effective Christians, reaching out in love and power.