johnburton Thank YOU for prayerfully considering a partnership with John Burton Ministries! This ministry packet was designed to give pastors and ministry leaders info on booking special events at churches, conferences and camps. It will also inform anybody regardless of role in the body of Christ on how to support this ministry financially and in prayer. My heart is to support you, develop a relationship with you and run the race of revival in the Earth together.
MAKING IT EASY The mission statement of both my ministry and Revival Church in Detroit is: Making it EASY for people to thoroughly ENJOY GOD. Simply, I come alive when people come alive. As people literally meet God, and encounter his indescribable joy, life and freedom, entire churches, families and cities can be dramatically impacted! Can we connect? I’d love to meet you, hear your heart, serve your church and lift you up in prayer.
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Ministry Partnership Packet 2
Information about...
Partnership Michele Perry, a missionary to Sudan and the founder of Iris Ministries-Sudan, revealed at Revival Church recently her surprising opinion–the mission in Detroit surpasses the mission in Sudan in terms of difficulty. As missionaries part of our responsibility is to connect with people who have a heart for transformation–people who will both pray for us and support our family financially. We would like to ask you to partner with us each month as we serve the people of Detroit. We’re confident your life will be dramatically impacted through your involvement with the ministry, and, of course, precious men, women and children through the region will have an opportunity to know Jesus deeply. WHY DETROIT? We had no reason to move to Detroit. We have never lived here and had no connections whatsoever. We didn’t realize that Detroit was being primed for a massive outpouring. After ministering here while on staff at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, God quickly captured our attention. After a powerful move of God that first week that I ministered in the city, a move that Ron Zettle of the International House of Prayer East Detroit says was the closest he’s ever been to revival, I returned several times and ministered prophetically in several churches. The pulse of God was being felt by many in brand new ways. We had planned on returning to Colorado Springs after our two-year sabbatical in Kansas City, but it was obvious something else was in the works. Amy presented God with a fleece. According to Forbes Magazine, we lived in the eighth fasted dying city in the nation. Amy said, “God, if you want us to move to Detroit, we’re going to put our house on the market tomorrow. The economy is crashing and Grandview is known as a dying city. Sell it for full price within the next seven days.” Six days later the house sold for full price, and we moved into the great unknown. Our giant faith jump has resulted in many transformed lives and the development of Revival Church. Part of our process has been radical trust that God would raise up a large team of financial partners. We need you. We thank you.
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Ministry Partnership Packet 3
How to become a
Partner
with John Burton Ministries
Give a special gift OR setup recurring monthly billing to your credit card. (Special gifts are, well, SPECIAL! Recurring donations help us plan our family budget well into the future. However you feel led to give, we want to thank you!) • Donate online: www.johnburtonministries.com/donate • Send a check: Make the check out to RHOP (our Colorado ministry that handles our accounting) and include a separate note with the words John and Amy Burton Support and send it to: Revolution House of Prayer, PO Box 907, Manitou Springs, CO 80829. Revolution House of Prayer is a 501c3 non-profit ministry. Your donations are tax-deductible and you will receive a statement of giving after the end of each year.
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Ministry Partnership Packet 4
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Ministry Partnership Packet 5
Information about...
Booking
One of my primary joys in life is having the opportunity to meet fellow pastors and leaders and partner with them in their ministry. As someone who has led a church for many years I fully understand the importance of ‘knowing those who labor among you.’ With this in mind, my commitment is to bring the life of Jesus to your church body or people at your conference or special event in such a way that it radically enhances your vision and core values. That being said, the messages that are central to my life and ministry include revival, prophetic prayer, intimacy with God, fulfilling our mandates and honoring authorities that God places in our lives. Can we talk? I’m ready to travel to your part of the world and bring the impact and power of the Holy Spirit with me! TESTIMONIES “God called you to rip open a revival in me–and it was real.”- Katie “John, thanks so much for listening to God’s heart! It changed my life. I’m crying, but I feel happy inside- a happiness I’ve never felt.”- Melanie “I’ve never heard a more dynamic couple speak at a retreat. May God bless you as you continue your ministry at Revolution”- Gary Just finished reading the two books you gave me…and I am buzzing in the Holy Spirit! My wife and I had an hour conversation about the depth of their implications. You have nailed it my friend. I have met few people who have put all this together….and I am in awe and grateful. I want all our leadership team to especially read 20 Elements of Revival. -Tim SPECIFICS I’m very easy to schedule! I simply request three things that will help me stay focused on the call to serve your church with excellence: 1. Travel–Whether by car or by air, cover my travel expenses to and from your venue. 2. Food & Lodging–My preference is to stay in a comfortable hotel (it doesn’t have to be expensive!), though I’m willing to stay in a home if I can have a private room to relax, pray and prepare. Also, please cover my meals. I generally don’t eat breakfast and I enjoy healthy meals (salads, chicken, fruit, etc.) 3. Honorarium–A love offering or honorarium will help us continue to focus on serving in ministry. I look forward to connecting! Call me at 313.799.3473 or email me at john@johnburtonministries.com.
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Ministry Partnership Packet 6
from the
Revival is Better Than... series
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Ministry Partnership Packet 7
WHY are OUTPOURINGS and REVIVALS considered to be SPECIAL and RARE?
W
By John Burton
hy does it take an outpouring to reintroduce the church to the power of God? Why are movements like Lakeland, Brownsville and Toronto special and rare? Why is it so difficult, in most cities in America, to find a church on fire? When the Holy Spirit is operating in freedom in our churches, there will be little need for a jolt from Heaven to get us normalized. But, until then, we must cry out for a lightning strike of revival in our cities. We need to apply the paddles to the heart of the church and shock it back to life. God moved in remarkable power last night at The International House of Prayer East Detroit last night. Here’s one testimony: “John, I’ve NEVER experienced what happened to me last night. It’s explainable but incomprehendable…If it hadn’t happened to me I couldn’t understand it in it’s fullness!!! That white hot fire…When you said..I’m not talking about your weaknesses…I’m talking about ANNOINTING…that FIRE hit my chest like only something I’ve seen in a movie..like a comet hitting earth is the only way to describe it..that’s how it felt and lasted for what seemed like forever…burn in me God!! Now I know what you were talking about when your shoulder was on fire in that cave!!!”
The prevailing theme that’s being communicated this week during this conference is that encounters like this one are actually to be very normal, quite average in the church! We are in the midst of a national crisis- a national church that has a form of godliness but denies the power. It’s a Sadducee spirit that radically minimizes or discounts all together the supernatural, resurrection power of Jesus. It’s common to hear about the resurrection reality in our pulpits, but rarely see resurrection power. Bring on the paddles.
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Ministry Partnership Packet 8
Wonder just what John teaches?
Check it out... detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching
The contention of this book is simple - THE EXTREME MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD IS THE BIBLICAL NORM for a New Testament believer. We label it many ways - revival, an outpouring, renewal - and certainly different moves of God have distinct flavors to them. However, regardless of the descriptive term we attach to it, we simply are not experiencing it. Just as we don’t attempt to start driving a car in fifth gear, we should understand that the pursuit of revival must begin at the appropriate place. As we move through the gears, we will find ourselves picking up speed and momentum toward the goal of a city-wide outpouring of the Holy Spirit! I just finished reading 20 Elements of Revival. Everyone should read this book! I wish I had the cash for a case of this book. Seriously! I keep thinking of more people who NEED a copy of it! It’s very, very, very rare for me to feel this way about a book other than the Bible.Kathi Sharpe
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Ready to book John for ministry in your church or at your conference or special event? Do you have questions? Contact him today!
ph 313.799.3473 john@johnburtonministries.com
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Ministry Partnership Packet 11
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Ministry Partnership Packet 12
A sample from the book Revelation Driven Prayer by John Burton
STOP! YOU’RE PRAYING WRONG! That’s what God told me one day as I was in some deep prayer. I was currently working part-time at T-Mobile as a supervisor. I had been fairly frustrated that I wasn’t able to leave that job so I could be full-time in the church. That day, I was praying from a place of frustration. “God, oh God, please grow the church! Please provide financially! Please help!” That was when, as clear as a bell, I heard God say, “Stop! You’re praying wrong!” What? How could that be? I was praying so hard. As I walked around the 1000 square feet of sanctuary space in our second location I really felt like I was doing good. Didn’t God want the church to grow? Didn’t he want to provide for our needs? Then God said something I’ll never forget. “You are praying as if I’m resisting you.
Don’t you realize I put those desires in your heart? Why are you begging me for a desire that I initiated? I gave you the desire in the first place!” Wow! That ruined my whole perception of what prayer was! I had to think differently. God then said, “There is one who IS resisting you though. The enemy doesn’t want these desires I placed in your heart to come to pass. It is the enemy whom you must fight.” So, I launched into a new dimension of faith filled and violent prayer! I felt impressed that God wanted me to ‘practice’ this new revelation on prayer. He told me he wanted me to have more time to pray and reach the city. He wanted me to quit my job at T-Mobile. I had captured the heart of God and I knew it was my turn to enforce his will. The enemy must move! “In the powerful name of Jesus Christ, I command you devil to release! Get off of my schedule! I declare the heart of God is [continued on page 14]
C O N TA C T U S A N Y T I M E
www.johnburton.net/blog for me to quit my job and to advance his Kingdom full time in Manitou Springs!” 1 John 5:14-15 (NIV) 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. I prayed according to his will. He wanted me to work full-time in the ministry. One week later, as a church of about 35 people, we received a check in the Sunday offering for $50,000. The next week we received $25,000.
book is hearing the ever-present voice of God. Let me at this point also emphasize the seemingly obvious power of the written Word of God. The revelation of 100% effective prayer has literally changed my life in many realms and dimensions. The above story revealed a process I went through with regard to God’s will for that moment of my life. He spoke specifically to me regarding his desires.
That’s why it’s critical to be people of prayer. How else can we know what God wants us to pray for? What to stand on. What not to focus on. What to delay? We must hear him!
Another story, though very short, had an equal impact upon my life. I was once again in a place of ‘frustration prayer’. I was crying out for my needs to be met. I was banging on the doors of heaven in passionate prayer for finances, among other things. Once again I heard the voice of God deep within my spirit, “Your prayer in hindering you.” What? Did I hear what I thought I heard? God told me that my prayer in that moment was doing more damage than good. I should stop if I planned on continuing in that vein.
Of course, the primary thrust of this entire
He then said, “Without faith it is impossible
I was full time two weeks later. That money was “more than enough” for me to go full-time at the church. We also used it to get into our current building. God wanted us to have that all along. The enemy didn’t. I was praying wrong. I was praying as if the provision had to be coaxed away from God. In reality, God had already released it and I just had to go get it.
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to please me.” He added, “Doubt in prayer will ensure that prayer goes unanswered.” Ok, he had my attention. I pondered this, and wrestled with these issues. I didn’t want to doubt. I wanted more than anything to be a man of faith. I wanted these pieces to fit together so I could arrive at some conclusion. God was telling me not to pray! Yet, I still had unresolved issues that demanded a miracle. Oh how alone I felt!
Then the answer came. God asked me why I was praying for something that was already promised in his Word. He has promised to supply all of my needs according to his riches in glory. The very act of asking God for my needs to be met revealed my lack of faith that it has already been done! Wow! I was attempting to convince God to do something that he already had resolved! My prayer evidenced my doubt which resulted in my prayer being unanswered!
Ministry Partnership Packet 14
Mark 11:24 (NIV) 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. No begging, no coercing, no convincing, no doubting allowed in prayer! James 1:5-8 (NIV) 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. Now, when I pray, I simply remember that ‘prayer’ rhymes with ‘declare’. I don’t have an addiction to petition. I hear God and then declare to the atmosphere and my situ-
ations how they must conform to his will. It turns us from a position of defeat and passivity to a position of victory and spiritual violence and powerful faith! We had a team of college aged young men and women come to Revolution for Mission Manitou- a spiritual warfare missions experience. It was an amazing week. The highlight of the week was ‘prayer in a cave’. From time to time we’ll have prayer teams join us for four hours of non-stop worship, prayer, prophecy, intercession and passion. We are literally in a cave, in perfect darkness with no sense of time. It’s an experiment in 100% effective prayer. This particular night was a night I’ll never forget. For nearly a year I had suffered from a severe pinched nerve in my right shoulder. My right arm and fingers would either tingle or go numb continually. My shoulder, at times, hurt so badly I could barely stand it. I had been to a chiropractor and a massage therapist. Neither worked. Prior to entering the cave, we had a powerful prayer and worship event at Revolution. Near the end of that service, I had asked one of the ‘prayer missionaries’ from Michigan to pray for my shoulder. This particular girl had been pressing so hard the entire week as God was healing her, touching her and shaking her. She craved breakthrough in her life. She prayed for me for quite some time, and then it was time for all of us to enter the cave. I didn’t experience a healing, though
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I was blessed that she took the time to pray for me. In the cave, we experienced four seasons that the Lord established as a part of 100% effective prayer. First, we repented. Remember, it’s perfectly dark in there. You can’t see your hand in front of your face. People’s cries were echoing thorough the cavern. People who never had the confidence to cry out or to pray out in public were wonderfully released to do so. There was such a presence of the Holy Spirit as people wept and repented and released past hurts. After an hour or so (we didn’t have a watch, so I don’t know how long it was for sure) we moved into worship and thanksgiving. It was beautiful. The next season was critical to the process of 100% effective prayer- hearing God. Prophecy. I encouraged people, most of whom have never prophesied, to listen to the voice of God and share it with us. One by one people would share pictures, impressions, scriptures and other words from heaven. We were about to move into the last season, which is implementing and enforcing the will of God that was just revealed in the season of prophecy. All of a sudden, I heard this sweet voice from on the other side of that cavern call out, “John?” I said, “Yes?” She said, “I just can’t go on until I share something with you.” It was the same girl who had prayed for my shoulder back at Revolution. “God is squeezing my heart. It’s so strong and I have to share it with you.” “It’s not good though.” Oh boy! Here we go. One of those moments that every leader has to deal with at one time or another- a crazy prophetic word! I told her, “Ok, go ahead and share it. Let’s see what God has to tell us.” It was important to me to encourage her in this as it was obviously a critical moment for her. She was hearing God, and I was excited about that. She went on to tell me that she saw a vision when she was praying for me back at Revolution, but she didn’t know how to share it. That same vision intensified extensively during the season of prophecy and hearing God there in the cave. She saw someone holding a voodoo doll of me and they were poking me in the shoulder over and over again.
100% effective prayer. I told everybody that God has revealed his desire- he wanted me healed that very moment. I asked that girl if she would pray for me. Wow! Something happened to this girl- the fire of God was on her! She prayed down the heavens while the rest of the people in that cave warred in the Spirit and interceded with passion. The noise was astounding. All of a sudden my shoulder started to burn. It was like someone poured hot oil on my shoulder and was rubbing it in. It went down my arm all the way to the tips of my fingers. God was instantly healing me. I went through every movement I could think of, I pressed my fingers deep into the spot that had previously hurt so badly. It was really happening- I was healed! My arm was on fire. I told everybody what was going on as it was happening. I asked them if they could see my arm glowing there in the dark cave! It was so hot I thought people around me could feel the warmth! To this very day my arm has been healed. The pain has never returned. God was waiting to heal me so all of those people in that dark cave would experience the glory of God. John 9:1-3 (NIV) 9:1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 100% effective prayer works. We pour ourselves out, spend hours in the presence of God, hear his voice and then war in the Spirit. Miracles are then the expected, and very regular, result. John 15:7-8 (NIV) 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Now, what she didn’t know was that I was there in the dark on the other side of the room wincing in extreme pain. I was contorting my body every which way I could in an attempt to relieve the pressure in my shoulder. I was almost in tears much of the night. I then announced to everybody there that we were a living experiment. God was taking us by the hand and teaching us about
Ministry Partnership Packet 15
“The coming moves of God will require nothing short of a revolution of our current structures, models and mindsets. Not an adjustment or an enhancement, but deep reform. The resulting fire and presence of the Holy Spirit will cause us to marvel and wonder why we ever resisted at all.�- John Burton
John and Amy Burton Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan
313.799.3473 john@johnburtonministries.com www.johnburtonministries.com