Rich Butler on Making Room for God and A Spirit-Led Church
About this episode
Rich Butler, lead pastor of Hope Church — a multi-site church spanning two counties in Spartanburg and Greenville, South Carolina — joins Philip Cameron for a candid conversation about what it truly means to make room for God in ministry and in life. Rich shares how a severe heart attack on October 15th sidelined him from the pulpit for nearly three months, and how that forced stillness became the crucible for a word from the Lord drawn from Psalm 81: "If you would only inquire of me, open your mouth wide, I would fill it with good things." He also unpacks the story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4, whose deliberate act of building a small room — furnished with a table (provision), a chair (authority), a lamp (revelation), and a bed (rest) — became the model for how Hope Church is now approaching every staff meeting, planning session, and Sunday service. Rich reflects on a sobering realization after 25 years of ministry: "If God wasn't moving in the service, I would move in the service." That confession sparked a church-wide shift toward unity of Spirit and Word, echoing R.T. Kendall's call to heal "the great divorce" between word and spirit. Rich also serves as a coach with the Spirit and Truth Network of Churches, led by Pastor Lee Cummings out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Learn more about Hope Church at www.HopeSC.org.
Part of our Holy Spirit collection of conversations.
Quotes worth sharing
“The Lord spoke to me and he said, 'Rich, I want you to make more room, because your current model is grieving me. I want to do more for you than you can do for yourself, but your model won't permit me to do that.'”
“My greatest fear is not that God would take me out of ministry. My greatest fear, Philip, is that God would leave me in ministry and take His hand off of me.”
“I was sitting in my car praying, my white knuckles on the wheel saying, 'God, you know where I am.' And I got mad. I says, 'God, why do you do this to me? Why do you always keep me at this point of need that I'm always begging you?' And as quick as a flash, he said, 'I love your company. If I gave you all you needed, I would never hear from you.'”
What's Discussed
Pastor Rich Butler of Hope Church — a three-campus, multi-site church across Spartanburg and Greenville, South Carolina — shares how a near-fatal heart attack in October 2024 became the turning point that reshaped his entire approach to ministry. Sidelined for nearly 90 days, Rich encountered Psalm 81's sobering warning that God will leave a people to their own devices when they stop inquiring of Him. Drawing on the story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4, Rich describes how furnishing a dwelling place for God — not merely seeking a visitation — unlocks what only God can do. He also addresses R.T. Kendall's diagnosis of a 'great divorce' between word and spirit in the modern church, and how the Spirit and Truth Network of Churches, led by Pastor Lee Cummings of Kalamazoo, Michigan, is working to restore that union.
- Buying a Strip Club for God's Glory
- Hope Church's Multi-Site Model and Spirit-Filled Tension
- The Shunammite Woman and 2 Kings 4
- Heart Attack and 90 Days Seeking God
- Psalm 81 and Repenting for Self-Sufficient Ministry
- Greatest Fear: God Leaving You in Ministry
- Furnishing a Dwelling Place for God's Presence
- Hunger, Brokenness, and Pastoral Renewal
Scripture in this episode
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:Hey, welcome to Daily Faith today. My name is Philip Cameron, and I am absolutely thrilled that you are with us. We've got a great program coming up today. A friend of mine, a pastor of a great church, and a growing church, an occupying church. Let me tell you something. When you attack the enemy, it isn't a one-off shot that counts.
Philip:We've got to occupy, the Bible tells us. And I love churches that are occupying, and Hope Church in Spartanburg, and I'll be talking to Pastor Rich in a few moments. And I just believe he's a word from the Lord for you.
Philip:You exist. You and I survive and exist by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. When he speaks, he brings life and hope and vision and purpose into your life. Where there is no vision, people perish. And the reason why people perish is because they haven't made room for the King of kings to be in their life. And today, Rich is going to talk to you about making room for God, and I can't wait to hear what he's got to say.
Philip:As you know, we have a mission work. Thirty-six years ago, I adopted a wee boy in Romania, starving to death. My dad in Scotland forced me to go from America. I was living in America. I had long put Scotland behind me and Europe behind me, and I was busy on all the TV programs. I'd written a book that had sold 300,000 copies. I was set. I was in my mid-30s. All my bucket lists had been checked off. I was set until that phone call ruined my... Well, it didn't ruin my life. It actually made my life, but I thought it had ruined my life at the time. And my dad was watching these horrible events taking place in Romania, where the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu had been deposed and executed on Christmas Day.
Philip:And he says, "We've got to go and help." And I said, "Dad, you're sick." He was recovering from cancer surgery. I said, "I'm busy. Leave this alone. The Red Cross, I'll send $100 to the Red Cross." He would not quit. And we eventually went there and went into this orphanage. I had no idea when I walked into that place and the smell of human waste and the horrendous conditions, that right in the middle of that place, 200 kids, there was a wee boy waiting for me. And I saw him in the crib, and he was like spotlit from Heaven.
Philip:And the Holy Spirit said, "That's your son," clearly as I'm talking to you. And I went into this room and picked him up. He was naked from the waist down. He'd been in this horsehair mattress, and the crib was painted with lead paint. He was covered in waste. And I said, "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I won't settle until I come back and get you." And it took me a year. I was back every two or three weeks, flying all the way back there, 24 hours back and forth, to keep this wee boy alive. And I had no idea that what I was doing was I was walking my way into purpose.
Philip:And 36 years later, we have a crazy place called Vatra Village. It's a village of homes on the largest lake in Moldova. Moldova's the poorest country in all of Europe. It has the highest percentage of alcoholism in the whole wide world. And right in the middle of all this darkness, we take these young girls in. Every girl you're looking at is worth $300,000 a year if a trafficker gets her. And we prevent that from happening by taking them into Vatra Village, putting them back in school, sharing the gospel with them. And the crazy thing is these kids become missionaries, and they then go out into the highways and byways, into villages that have never heard the gospel, and share what Jesus has done in their lives.
Philip:My wife, Chrissy, and my daughter, Melody, led a team from a tremendous church, Elevate Church in Frisco, Texas. And they went to our brand new project that we're working on right for smaller kids between the age of four and 16. And my daughter, Melody, sent us a report just a few days ago. Watch this.
Melody:Hi, friends. I'm here once again at our Promise House in Ungheni, Moldova. Some of you may not know what Promise House is. Promise House is for kids under 16, from babies up to graduating high school. So that is what Promise House is. And we've got a team. We've been giving you updates of all the construction inside the house, but today, this week, it's beautiful weather here in Moldova, and we've turned our efforts outside lately because we've been so busy inside, our outside has gotten a little bit neglected.
Melody:So we're continuing work here at Promise House. If you've ever considered donating to Orphan's Hands, and maybe you haven't in the past but have been thinking about it, I'm going to challenge you today to take that step and say, "God, I'm going to let you use me in the life of a child, a child that has been abandoned, a child that's been abused, a child that's been neglected. Their parents have disappeared. They don't even know where they are.
Melody:But God, today, I'm going to be the one that comes to them, running to them willingly to help and give and love." So we need you. We need your support. We need your love. We need your generosity so that this house is not just a home, it's not a safe covering, it's not a warm bed, but it's a place where these kids can come to know Jesus. So if there's ever a time to get involved, now is the time, and we need you.
Philip:You have no idea how much it blesses me to hear my daughter weep and speak about these kids. When I started this journey 30-odd years ago, she was just a young girl. I took Andrew home, and they made room for this wee boy in their family, this little wild child that had been raised in an orphanage and fought for every bite of food he had in his life. And here we are now in this stage of our lives when it's my kids that go and weep over the very same things I wept over.
Philip:You can help us rescue kids today by being God's hand extended. We need a $100,000 miracle to finish this second house. We have one house finished, and the second house, and a situation has developed that we're trying to get a family of nine kids whose mother hung herself because she discovered herself pregnant with the 10th. Had an abusive husband. The kids told the police it was he'd driven her to this, and he's in prison. So you've got these nine kids, and we are trying our most desperately to make a space for this whole family to be rescued.
Philip:Your giving today can make a miracle happen. Every house we open takes 300 people giving a dollar a day. You can rescue nine kids from hell for a dollar a day. A dollar doesn't change your world, but I promise you this, it will change those little boys and girls. So being His hand extended is really simple if you get in contact with us. Our mailing address is PO Box 25, just The Orphan's Hands, PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. Your gift today can make a way for kids that have no hope otherwise.
Philip:There's no one to help them. They are living right now temporarily with a grandmother who is also sick. They've nowhere to go. And our team found them, and we are working just now with all the authorities, but we can't even open the door of that possibility until we open the door of the second house at Promise House. So please let the Lord speak to you. Be God's hand extended. I believe if you act in faith, it's going to come back to you, pressed down, shaken together and running over.
Philip:Thank you so much. I am excited to have with me today Rich Butler. He pastors a crazy church that just believes that the world is their oyster, that they can impact the earth. And when I first met him a few years ago, he had taken over and bought one of the most famous strip joints in the whole area, and it is now a church to the glory of God. And Rich, I am absolutely delighted to see you again and have you as a guest on "Daily Faith." Thank you for being with us, my brother.
Buying a Strip Club for God's Glory
Rich Butler:Philip, it's an honor to be with you. It's been a while. Been way too long. I know. But I'm always encouraged by your ministry and your story, and your care for the vulnerable, and I'm just grateful for your friendship.
Philip:Tell us again what you did. I said to Andrew, "What happened with that?" You bought a strip joint, didn't you?
Rich Butler:We bought a strip joint. Our third campus was in Greenville, and we were meeting portably at another church. We could not find a building. If you're familiar with Greenville, South Carolina, real estate's hard to come by. And so we began to fast and pray, and the Lord spoke to us, several of us, and said, "The building for the Greenville campus is like the colt that was tied up, that Jesus sent the disciples to go untie."
Rich Butler:And so we began to look for every complicated building we could find. I mean, you name it, we looked at it, and we couldn't find anything. And we were in the midst of a season of prayer, and an intercessor from Greenville sent me a news headline from Greenville, and it read this, "Notorious strip club gets untied from South Carolina State Supreme Court litigation." It had been busted for human trafficking and prostitution. And that prophetic word of a colt being untied that Jesus would ride into the city on was the word we needed. So our board went and looked at the strip club, and we, by faith, bought it, and now that is our Greenville campus.
Philip:That is insane. Occupying the devil's territory is always the mandate of the church. He is the prince of the powers of the air, but we, doing this kind of stuff, we are invading his space. We are occupying his territory. And instead of us being on the retreat, we need to be making room for more of God in our circumstances. You are teaching just now at the church about this subject. Let us know what God's been showing you about making room for more of God.
Hope Church's Multi-Site Model and Spirit-Filled Tension
Rich Butler:Well, historically, nearly 40 years, we've been a Christ-centered, spirit-filled church, and about 12 years ago, we went multi-site. So now we have three campuses across two counties. And if you're familiar with multi-site at all, you've got to be on a clock. You've got to be — everything's got to be tight, especially when you're streaming services and things like that, which we don't do every week. But we have fought the tension of being an excellent church, but also being a spirit-filled church.
Rich Butler:So last fall, as I was seeking the Lord about this year, 2026, I felt like the Lord prompted me to make more room for Him. And He took me to Second Kings chapter four, the story of the Shunammite woman and Elisha, where Elisha would go to Shunem and visit this wealthy woman, the Bible says. The word wealth means, it's the Hebrew word "gedol," which means she had everything money could buy, but she didn't have the manifest presence of the Lord.
Rich Butler:So when the prophet would come in, she would prepare a meal, and she said that he would stop by from time to time, and she got so accustomed to his visitation that she told her husband, "We need to make a small room so that when he comes, he won't leave. He'll dwell here." And the Lord spoke to me and he said, "Rich, I want you to make more room, because your current model is grieving me. I want to do more for you than you can do for yourself, but your model won't permit me to do that."
The Shunammite Woman and 2 Kings 4
Rich Butler:So Philip, I had that word, make more room. And October the 15th of last year, I suffered a severe heart attack. And I was sidelined. I nearly died. So I was not in the pulpit, not in the office, didn't even go to church from October the 15th to January the 4th. And I was sitting with the Lord. Honestly, I was having a pity party while my family went to church and I said, "God, I'm your man. What's going on here?"
Rich Butler:"You gave me a word about making room and here I am. I'm in my living room and can't do anything that you've asked me to do." And I heard the Lord clearly say to me, "Rich, I'm not moved by pity. I am moved by faith. Get yourself up and put your hope back in me." And so I did, Philip. For 90 days, I just began to seek the Lord. And what I heard Him say to me, out of Psalm 81, has revolutionized how we approach ministry.
Heart Attack and 90 Days Seeking God
Rich Butler:Psalm 81, essentially, the psalmist says this, "'Oh, would you listen to me,' says the Lord. 'But no, you wouldn't hear me, and you didn't want my involvement. If you would only inquire of me, open your mouth wide, I would fill it with good things. But you didn't want my involvement,' says the Lord. 'So I left you to your own ideas and your stubborn desires.' 'Had you inquired of me, I would've quickly subdued your enemies, and I would've fed you with the choices of wheat and honey from the rock.'" What a scripture.
Rich Butler:And when I read that, what I realized, and I had to repent during my recovery from the heart attack, is, Philip, I had gotten so proficient in doing ministry after nearly 25 years. What I realized, if God wasn't moving in the service, I would move in the service. You could still have the service. I would move. If I felt like the nose of the plane was going down and I was asking God, "God, move upon your people," I had grown so skilled in doing ministry that I didn't say this, but it was okay if the manifest presence didn't show up, I would just show up.
Rich Butler:And during that season of making room, both in my heart and through repentance, I told the Lord, I said, "God, my greatest fear is not that you would take me out of ministry," because I didn't know after the heart attack if I would come back or not. But my greatest fear is not that God would take me out of ministry. My greatest fear, Philip, is that God would leave me in ministry and take His hand off of me.
Rich Butler:And so I'm a coach right now with the Spirit and Truth Network of churches. We have about 80 churches that really are fighting to ignite a spirit and truth revolution in our day. R.T. Kendall said recently when he was with us that there's been a great divorce in the church between word and spirit. And just like any divorce, some of the kids go with the father and some go with the mother.
Rich Butler:And we've talked so much about revival in recent days, and he began to prophesy at 91 years old, especially to the charismatic movement. He said, "We will see revival when we see the marriage again of the word and the Spirit coming back together." And so what we've done at Hope Church is that we haven't broken our model. We're still excellent. We still are multi-site. We still have teams. But we are inquiring of the Lord about everything.
Psalm 81 and Repenting for Self-Sufficient Ministry
Philip:Unless God go before me, carry me not up hence. I ain't going nowhere. Unless God builds the house, I ain't going nowhere without Him, His presence.
Rich Butler:And that is when the Shunammite woman made that little apartment for the prophet to come. And here's the difference. A lot of us want a touch and a visitation. So we get a little, "Ooh, that was wonderful. God moved so nicely in church," and we contained Him so nicely, and we switched it on and switched it off, and we kept on going. But when you make a dwelling place for Him, she put a table, which meant provision, a chair which meant authority, a lamp which meant revelation, and a bed that meant rest.
Rich Butler:And when you create that environment for God to live amongst you, then He will — what's that saying? Build and He will come. And our responsibility in our Christian walk is to build it, is to make a place, to come aside. When the burning bush burned and was not consumed, the Bible says that Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see." Who was he talking to? Sheep? No, he was talking to God. He was saying to God, "I'm going to take the time to turn aside from my busy sheep work to see what this may mean." And when he turned aside, when the Lord saw he turned aside, he spoke. And most times God will not speak until we take the time to turn aside.
Greatest Fear: God Leaving You in Ministry
Rich Butler:Thinking about the Shunammite woman, Elisha asked his assistant, "Hey, ask this woman from Shunem if there's anything I can do for her." And she said, "No, I'm gedole. I'm good. I'm well taken care of." And then he said, "Ask her about that son she's been longing for." And she said, "Oh, my Lord, don't get my hopes up like that." In other words, as she began to host the presence of God and make a little more room, God wanted to do something for her that she couldn't do for herself.
Rich Butler:Hallelujah. And I'm concerned, even in our own life and ministry, is that we've gotten so good at building mega structures, we don't often make enough room for God to do what only he can do. And I've found that the Lord's taken me back old school. Man, we're opening the altars like we've never done before. God's visiting us in staff prayer. We've had planning meetings where we used to just be on a whiteboard and it'd be all cerebral, and now we're inquiring of the Lord. And when we inquire of him, he's visiting us in meetings. And I mean, it is unbelievable.
Rich Butler:I realize this, either God can leave me to build according to my blueprint, or he can tell me what he wants me to do. Because he's only blessing his agenda.
Philip:I was driving my car one day and stopped at a traffic light, and when you do mission work, you always need money. You're always looking for the next challenge and the next miracle. And we were in a pinch, and I'm sitting in my car praying, my white knuckles on the wheel saying, "God, you know where I am." And I got mad. I says, "God, why do you do this to me? Why do you always keep me at this point of need that I'm always begging you? I'm always..." And as quick as a flash, he said, "I love your company." He said, "If I gave you all you needed, I would never hear from you."
Philip:You'd be building your own thing, building the next building, building the next orphanage, building the next... Always a legitimate need, always proper to do. But unless you come to me, unless you come and heel like a puppy dog comes — you train a dog to heel because if it doesn't heel, it's a danger to itself. If you can say to that puppy, "Heel," and it comes right to you — and we're to move and live and have our being according to his purpose and his will. And I'm there talking in tongues and crying and boohooing, and someone in the car next to me looking in saying, "Who's that crazy man?" They didn't know that what I was doing was I was finding my way back to his presence, and that's what we need to do.
Furnishing a Dwelling Place for God's Presence
Rich Butler:I think it's the Gospel of Mark that says that Jesus called his disciples that he might be with them and that he might send them out. I think if we get to the sending out before we get to being with him, we go out with no power. We go out in our own strength. And it just doesn't work. That's why I think we burn out. I think that's why our structures break down. I just feel a renovation in my own heart, in our church, and people are hungry for not just a visitation of the Lord, not just a good worship set. People are hungering and thirsting after the presence of God like I've never seen in 25 years of ministry.
Philip:It's amazing. I know there are folk watching just now, I know there are pastors watching just now, and they are weary in keeping the show going, weary to keep the program running, and there's no oil left in it. And I'll tell you now, you can have a Rolls-Royce with the nicest leather Napa seats, and you can have everything under the sun, and if you don't have oil in the engine, all you have is a lead weight that can go nowhere and do nothing. And what you're talking about is that it's time to get the oil back in the church. It's time to get the spirit of God to have his way in the church. And when that happens, I'd rather have a Volkswagen full of oil than a Rolls-Royce with no oil at all.
Rich Butler:That's a word. And I think it starts, Philip, with brokenness, with a sincerity. I hit the wall on October 15th.
Philip:Five bypasses, open heart surgery this year. I know exactly what you're talking about, Rich.
Rich Butler:But God had me exactly where he wanted me, because I could not do anything in my own strength. So I was desperate for him. And God is always attracted to hunger. He's always attracted to repentance. And I would say to any pastor that's burned out, that's burning oil, just tell the Lord that you repent for doing things in your own strength. I would rather have the presence of the Lord than thousands of people gathered around me without his presence.
Rich Butler:Like Moses said to the Lord when he said, "I'm going to send you to the promised land, but I'm not going with you because of your disobedience." And Moses said, "The deal is off, for if your presence doesn't go with us, we're not getting up." It's your presence that distinguishes us from all the people on the earth. That's what makes us different.
Philip:Wow. Well, I tell you what, I know as you're talking, I feel the Holy Ghost speaking and challenging me, and I know there are folk watching. We've got two and a half minutes left. Could you pray? Listen, if you're watching just now, I need to get in contact with Rich. Hope Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina, www.hopesc.org. And if you're a hungry pastor, tell us the name of this ministry, the organization that you're — you mentioned it.
Rich Butler:It's the Spirit and Truth Network of Churches with Pastor Lee Cummings out of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Hunger, Brokenness, and Pastoral Renewal
Philip:I want to meet him. If you could get me in contact, I'd love to have him on "Daily Faith" to share about this.
Rich Butler:Absolutely. Pray for us, will you, that God will create the hunger. We've only a minute and 40 seconds left.
Rich Butler:Father, I just bring your shepherds before you. You didn't call us executives, and you didn't call us CEOs. We're sons and daughters, and we're under-shepherds. You're the great shepherd. And Lord, even today I hear you saying, "Come to me all who are weary and carrying a heavy burden, for I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble. You will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Lord, I pray today that you would pour your oil out on your shepherd. That you would fill them up to overflowing. That they would throw in the towel, not on their ministry, but on their own strength, on their own efforts, and like the Apostle Paul, they would say, "When I come to the pulpit, I've purposed that it wouldn't be my eloquence or my personality or my strength, but it would be the supernatural flow of the Holy Spirit, so that the people would put their hope in the Lord and not in man." God, we are desperate for you. Would you strengthen and nourish your people as we simply make more room for your involvement. In Jesus' name.
Philip:In Him we live and move and have our being. If we're not in Him, we don't live, we don't move, and we don't have our being. Rich, thank you so much for bringing a word. We've got to do this again.
Rich Butler:Most definitely. And I'd love to meet that brother you're talking about as well. I'd like to be involved with that.
Philip:Listen, thank you for watching "Daily Faith." I hope that we've spoken into your life today. I pray that you'll consider being part of the mission work that we are challenged to do right this minute. We love you. We appreciate you. God is on your side. We'll see you again. Bye-bye.
For over 25 years, the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova. From providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They champion the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries. Many of Moldova's orphans are saved from the horrors of trafficking through homes founded by the Camerons, and in the process, orphans become daughters and sons. They come to know their Heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus. God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness.
Now, no longer orphans, they want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. The Orphan's Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking. Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in The Orphan's Hands homes in Moldova and the Ukraine. If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 833-DAILYFAITH. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv, or by writing to Post Office Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving the lost.
Common questions
Why did Rich Butler's church buy a strip club — and how did they know it was the right building?
Rich says the Lord gave his church a prophetic word that their Greenville campus would be like "the colt that was tied up" that Jesus sent the disciples to untie. When an intercessor sent him a news headline reading "Notorious strip club gets untied from South Carolina State Supreme Court litigation" — the club had been busted for human trafficking and prostitution — Rich and his board took it as confirmation. They bought it by faith, and it is now their Greenville campus.
What does Rich Butler mean by "making room for God," and where does the idea come from?
Rich draws the concept from 2 Kings 4, where the Shunammite woman built a small room furnished with a table, chair, lamp, and bed so the prophet Elisha would dwell with her rather than just visit. He says the table represented provision, the chair authority, the lamp revelation, and the bed rest. His point is that most churches settle for a brief visitation of God's presence, but making a permanent dwelling place invites God to do things for us that we cannot do for ourselves.
What did Rich Butler's heart attack have to do with his message about making room for God?
Rich suffered a severe heart attack on October 15th and was out of the pulpit for nearly three months. During that forced stillness he says God confronted him through Psalm 81, showing him that he had grown so skilled at ministry that he would simply "show up" himself if God's manifest presence didn't appear in a service. He repented of running the church on his own proficiency and says the recovery period became the very season of making room that God had been calling him to.
What is the Spirit and Truth Network of Churches that Rich mentioned?
Rich describes it as a network of roughly 80 churches, led by Pastor Lee Cummings out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, that are working to "ignite a spirit and truth revolution." He serves as a coach within the network. The network's driving conviction, echoed by theologian R.T. Kendall, is that the church has experienced a "great divorce" between the Word and the Spirit, and revival will come when the two are reunited.
What practical changes has Rich made at Hope Church since his heart attack and recovery?
Rich says the church hasn't scrapped its multi-site, excellence-focused model, but has fundamentally changed how decisions are made. Planning meetings that used to be purely whiteboard-and-strategy sessions now begin with seeking the Lord, and he reports God showing up in those meetings. They've also reopened the altars more than ever before and prioritized corporate prayer, with Rich saying the hunger for God's genuine presence in his congregation is greater than anything he's seen in 25 years of ministry.
Topics
rich butlerhope church spartanburgspirit-filled ministrypastoral renewal2 kings 4psalm 81word and spirit