In my twenty-five years at Westminster Chapel, there are only three or four men who have impressed me so much that I was willing to put my reputation on the line in order to have them speak for us. Charles Carrin is one of those. I met him at a conference where both of us were speakers in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was deeply moved when I heard him speak. It had been years since such an impact had been made on me by anyone. I asked to spend time with him, and an instantaneous relationship developed. I immediately began to think of how I could have him at Westminster Chapel. I returned to England and told our deacons about Charles. They were fascinated because they knew that I didn’t get excited about anybody all that often. I asked the deacons to listen to the tape of the sermon that had so moved me, and there was a feeling, that indeed, we should invite him to Westminster Chapel.

We did. He came to us in October 2000, and he turned us upside-down--unlike anything we had seen in many years. He left a deposit of glory and of the presence of God that has made us a Spirit church as well as a Word church. I had been saying for years that the Word and the Spirit need to come together, and yet I knew in my heart that Westminster Chapel--up until then--was mostly a Word church.

Perhaps I should explain. It seems to me that a silent divorce has taken place between the Word and the Spirit in the church ... The need of the hour is for a remarriage of both the Word and the Spirit. I am happy to say that Charles Carrin combines both simultaneously in his ministry, and I doubt there are many people on either side of the Atlantic who could have had the impact upon Westminster Chapel as he did.