In August of 1996, we began planning a conference for the North Shore area for local churches and pastors, and invited John Paul Jackson to come and minister as part of the conference. The following are some of the contents of a letter to John Paul Jackson: “…The focus of the conference will be on Renewal and the Prophetic Gift. All of us feel confident that the Lord is about to do something awesome in this area. Several of the prophetically gifted in our fellowship have had visions and dreams involving a clipper ship sailing into Newburyport Harbor (the mouth of the Merrimack River).
“The spiritual heritage of Newburyport and the surrounding area is intense. George Whitefield began and ended his ministry in the colonies in Newburyport, and is buried in the basement of Old South Church in Newburyport. Many of the local congregations in this surrounding area began through his ministry and during the outpouring of the Great Awakening.
“The Lord has spoken to my heart and said that in the same way that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit unified the original thirteen colonies during the Great Awakening, there would be a Greater Awakening and joining together/unity for His people and church.
“All of us are excited about what the Lord is doing with us and through us in this area. We feel that a conference focused on Renewal and the Prophetic, would give many the opportunity to experience the Lord’s passion for their renewal and release of prophetic gifting in their lives and churches…”
One evening, in August, the Lord impressed on me that He would give a sign in the heavens to show His approval for what we were doing. The following evening, I was travelling with other leaders from the church to a meeting, and I shared with them, that I wasn’t sure whether it was vain thinking, but I felt the Lord speaking to me the night before, saying that there would be a sign in the heavens to show His approval of what we were doing. We were all doubtful.
The conference was set and arranged for early April. 1997. Late that fall, I read in the news that a new comet had been discovered, and to be honest had almost forgotten about the word from the Lord. As weeks went by, more and more news about this comet filled the television and newspapers. This would be one of the brightest and largest comets in 100s of years, and it was estimated that this newly discovered comet had last passed by the earth in approximately 2000B C. I was amazed, to say the least, and asked my friends if they thought this could be the sign in the heavens that I told them about months earlier.
The conference was all that we had prayed it would be. Many, many pastors and churches participated, from all denominations, including a well known Catholic priest, who had a very popular radio show, who brought several parishioners and several nuns. People were powerfully touched by the Lord, and John Paul Jackson’s ministry introduced many pastors and their wives to the ministry of the prophetic gift.
The lives that were touched during this time, being saved and filled with the Spirit, the ministry, and the stories of those touched could probably fill volumes. At the close of the conference, I was told that this newly discovered comet was at its brightest and maximum visibility in North America during the weekend of our conference. It was clearly visible in the sky.