This podcast is one with a twist. Instead of the good stories of God speaking, we’re sharing the bad! We all love a good God conversation story. God is still speaking as powerfully and creatively as he did in Bible days. But the nature of our flawed humanity is that we can get it wrong. We can make mistakes. We can use the claim to hearing God’s voice to manipulate others. The result is real damage to people’s lives.

It’s important that we don’t overlook the bad stories or pretend they don’t exist. Instead they become a learning opportunity when we see where things went wrong.

That’s why on the show in this episode, we talk with long time pastor Paul Hudson from the Elim group of churches in the UK. As a pastor of pastors, he’s seen the worst (and the best!) of the prophetic world and has plenty of wisdom to share about how to avoid the pitfalls. 

You’ll hear about:

• Paul’s story growing up in a Christian environment and how two simple words from the Holy Spirit completely changed his heart towards international mission. From there, God used him to establish a global network beyond his own nation.

• A tragic story of a young man and woman who believed God spoke to them about marriage. They married quickly without consultation from others and their marriage broke up within 6 months due to abuse. Here we learn how consultation in community – especially those who are willing to disagree – is crucial.

• Paul’s own story of God speaking to warn him and how he twisted it around because he didn’t like what he heard. Thankfully God gave him a further message that enabled him to redeem the situation.

• Reflections on the Apostle’s Paul experience when the disciples mis-interpreted the prophetic word they heard about Paul’s journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21).

Throughout the stories, you’ll hear some recurring themes! We share the bad stories so we don’t have to repeat them. Let’s be smart enough as well as humble enough to learn from the experiences of others!

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About Paul Hudson

After planting a church in the Lake District of the UK for 4 years, Paul pastored a church in West Yorkshire for 17 years. During that time, Paul also became the International Missions Director for the Elim denomination and established the Elim Global Network which is now in over 60 nations of the world and made up of thousands of churches. Five years later, he holds a regional role, leading 105 churches in the UK and acting as the pastors’ pastor. He continues to serve as the General Secretary of the Elim Global Network.