Father’s Day 1995 The Lord Himself did a mighty work when He poured out His presence in Pensacola Florida during the Brownsville Revival that resulted in the nations being reached with mighty testimonies of His Glory and many coming to Salvation through Jesus Christ. Steve Hill was the Evangelist who labored alongside Pastor John Kilpatrick night after night as thousands of souls repented for their sins and wept in the sweet presence of Holy Spirit. Jeri, Steve’s wife was also there night after night responding to the call to grow ever closer to the Lord.
In a recent conversation, Jeri Hill talks about the life of transition that her and Steve lived following the Lord in those beginning days of the Brownsville Revival. “In that first year we moved nine times because we didn’t know how long we were going to be there”. They were following the lead of the Holy Spirit, until five years later, in 1999, they decided to leave Pensacola. “The only reason we felt led to leave Brownsville is because there were less sinners coming.” All the while during those five years of the Brownsville Revival, Steve was receiving invitations from around the world for him to come preach in their nation, “we cannot all go to Brownsville, please come to us”. After leaving Pensacola, FL, Steve and Jeri travel to Japan to share the Gospel.
It was during an event in Japan that Jeri felt the Holy Spirit suddenly impress upon her, “go outside and evangelize right now”. After grabbing an interpreter, she was handing out Gospel tracks and inviting people to the even that was about to start in 45 mins. Her and her interpreter run out of tracks and Jeri tells the interpreter to go get more tracks. “All of a sudden I’m doubling over weeping and wailing for the people of Japan. I am bawling my eyes out wailing an saying ‘the people of Japan need Jesus! the people of Japan need Jesus!’ and I am wailing…” Suddenly Jeri is approached by someone in their ministry team who recognized Jeri and tells Jeri that the girl with him is a pastor’s daughter who wants to leave and doesn’t believe in what Steve is doing in their city means anything. She confronted this young girl and boldly declared, “the devil has you right where he wants you, he wants you to leave, he does not want you to believe that he’s real, and the devil is dancing, he’s pleased, he’s so happy that you are about to leaving.” But Jeri didn’t stop there, “if you have even a little mustard seed of faith, you get back in there and listen to my husband preach”. The girl ended up walking away, and suddenly the burden of the Holy Spirit lifted. During the message, Steve called Jeri up to be alongside him praying for the pastors. It was while Jeri was on the platform that she felt a tap on her shoulder, and it was the young man and girl who told Jeri that she gave her heart to Jesus! So many people miss those promptings of the Holy Spirit. If we don’t pay attention to how the Holy Spirit is leading us, we can miss Him. As Jeri shares, “that’s what it’s all about. My job was to be interceding and praying and believing…”