In 1985, I was working in the office at
Living Sound Monday through Friday
every week and traveling with the
founder and evangelist Terry Law each
weekend for ministry. Terry is still one
of my best friends. I would lead worship
from the piano and he would bring the
message. That year, just two days after
Christmas, he and I were on a plane
coming back to Tulsa from a weekend
of ministry. I was becoming aware of
how weary I was from working and
traveling so much, along with missing
the milestones of my young family. My
son Michael was only eleven days old.
The proverbial candle that burns at
both ends soon smothers out its own
flames. I realized on that flight that
something had to give. The grace that
had given me the ability to travel every
weekend had lifted and I knew I couldn’t
continue at the pace I was going. So I
quietly prayed, “Lord, please take me
out of this and let me be able to be
home with my family.”
Terry’s wife had been tragically taken
in a car accident three years earlier,
leaving him with three young children.
Because of his deep grief, he was
about to give up on his faith and the
ministry when Oral Roberts challenged
him to get on his knees before God and
continue to offer “a sacrifice of praise”
in the midst of his questions, hurt, and
pain until a breakthrough came. Terry
responded, God spoke and healed his
heart, and a ministry was relaunched
with a new focus. His book The
Power of Praise and Worship contains
the cornerstone content of his life’s
message. Terry based much of his
teaching on 2 Corinthians 10:3–5:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do
not war according to the flesh. For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal
but mighty in God for pulling down
strongholds, casting down arguments
and every high thing that exalts itself
against the knowledge of God, bringing
every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ.
Terry taught that the Word of God,
the name of Jesus, and the blood of
Jesus are three offensive weapons
God has given us to defeat the enemy.
These weapons are engaged through
the preaching of God’s Word, prayer,
testimony, and praise and worship.
The message resonated with people
across the nation and around the
world. Every weekend we were seeing
dramatic moves of God as people
grasped the vision that our worship
creates an atmosphere for God to
move in miraculous ways.
“
The proverbial candle
that burns at both ends
soon smothers out its own
flames.
Solutions • 13