Should We Send an Advance Team of Intercessors Before Doing a Crusade?
No.
Sooner or later, someone will tell you about Father Nash. He prayed in cities where Charles Finney was about to go to have mighty revivals in the 1800’s. Only months after Father Nash died, Finney stopped doing his public crusades.
“Father” Daniel Nash had some interesting manifestations of the Spirit while he was praying, and I believe he knew how to hear from God. The issue is that some people in alleged “spiritual warfare” circles have used this account to teach the necessity of sending an advance team of intercessors to prepare an area spiritually before attempting a crusade there.
While Father Nash’s experiences were sometimes startling, you cannot get doctrine from experience. You can only get it from Scripture, and that’s where this breaks down. There is not one case where Jesus or His followers sent an advance team of intercessors to an area before the Word was preached. That settles the issue. Advance intercession teams are unnecessary from a biblical perspective.
I think advance teams in general are a fine idea – to do some natural preparation and some even initial preaching. But I don’t believe in advance teams who DON’T preach the Gospel whose sole job is to intercede. The gospel is the power of God (Romans 1:16), so rather than pray for the power of God to manifest, we should preach the Word! God will work with us and the power of God will manifest. Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel, not go into all the world and intercede and then preach the gospel. Also, advance intercession teams are a waste of money, as there is no indication from Scripture that your prayers are only effective if you are physically near the people you are praying for. Paul prayed for the Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, and so on, from distant locations, so you and your team can do the same. If you’re not going to preach to people, at least save your partners the travel expenses and stay home and pray!
I am not against intercession. I do it. Paul interceded for others and so should you. It is just not a prerequisite for God to move in a crusade where the full gospel (including healing) is presented.
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