, because those who had previously found 7am to be an early rising time suddenly found great joy in getting up at 4am in the dark to go to the 5am prayer meeting.
Now something quite miraculous happened while we were at St. Paul’s and this is the beginning of the story. The Lord moved mightily on July 17, 1968. One of the ladies who have been prayed for several times had not received the gifts of tongues. The Lord spoke to her that there was going to be a special meeting on Sunday and that He would bring people from the highways and the byways and not to prepare for that meeting. Now we are used to doing things quite spontaneously in meetings, but in those days for a preacher to step out into a meeting unprepared was absolutely terrifying. God named specific people who would be attending. Those people were unknown to her at the time, but she was to pray for them. Those people did attend the meeting on July 21, and were saved and healed.
The children and I were away at this time, as Clark was supposed to be studying for exams. Clark spent much time in prayer, seeking the Lord about the special Sunday night meeting. There was much joy and excitement among the newly baptised-in-the-Spirit Christians who met each night to pray and seek the Lord. The presence of the Lord was very evident, and the fear of the Lord also. There was much conviction and cleansing from sin. Those few days before the Sunday nights were really dynamic.
On the night of Sunday, July 21, the church was packed. The building was a modern, low-set structure which could hold a few hundred people, although there was normally only a handful on Sunday nights. What occurred on that night is probably the most amazing thing I have seen. I believe it is a foretaste of what God will do in revival. The building was absolutely packed. The foyer was packed and there were people outside looking in through the windows. There had been no advertising. The Spirit of God drew the crowds.
Many healing miracles occurred, one after another. Later on in the night, Clark preached a very short gospel message and many people streamed forward to be saved. Over the next few days, people came to our home one by one and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, some of them seeing visions.
The Methodist Church leaders decided to put Clark into Kings College, their theological college at the University, so he became a student there in 1969. In between his studies, he began what became known as the Corinda meetings. George Nichols, the man who had introduced Clark to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, had a large home in the Brisbane suburb of Corinda. These meetings commenced on May 10, 1969. These numbers grew to about 200 hundred during the following two years.
Following time with Trevor Chandler at Windsor Full Gospel Church and then Christian Life Centre, we began travelling. Later, we began Christian Outreach Centre.
The first step was a meeting, attended by twenty-five people, in our home at Keperra on June 16, 1974. One week later, 126 people participated in Communion. Christian Outreach Centre was underway.
Faith in God was one of our foundational beliefs. Christian Outreach Centre Bibles automatically fall open at the 11th chapter of Mark. We had to have a faith in God because we had nothing else – no financial backing, no parent body to launch us, no experience in starting churches. Some people described us as ‘ecclesiastical nobodies’ and they were right.
We then spread out to other parts of Queensland and Australia, and then overseas. We started planting churches in towns close to Brisbane, one reason being that we really needed each other. Training took place on the run, as the first Christian Outreach Centre Pastors were some farmers, carpenters and milkman.
Christian Outreach Centre men and women were committed to “Australia for Christ.” They put their money where their mouth was. People gave sacrificially and the staff worked for very low wages. One of the secrets of success in the early days had to be that people had a will to work.
By 1976, Clark was beginning to talk telev