Sylvia Evans “Elim's Heritage Regained"

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. I'm the Social Media and Marketing Coordinator here at ELAM Fellowship and I am so excited to tell you that we have season four of the well launching on October 7th. This season we are focusing on our recent Prophetic Conference as well as our upcoming New Pastors Conference. We also have three special shows scheduled that we want to highlight. On November 4th we we will have a show dedicated to our Saturate Conference as we get ready for saturate 2026. On December 2nd we will have our annual Christmas greeting from our president, Phil McNeil, and on the evening of December 4th, we will be going live with a special episode of our online worldwide regional broadcast. We want you to be part of that live via Zoom to participate, but we will also be rebroadcasting that event on December 9th. This season we will be hearing from several of our speakers at our Prophetic Conference, including Sylvia Evans on October 7th, John Heiss on October 14th, Peter Mayer on October 21st, Robbie Evans on October 28th, and Jonathan Evans on November 11th. In between those two weeks we will have our Saturate special on November 4th. On November 18th we will hear from Melissa Peoples, who will have spoken at our new Pastors conference, and on November 25th we will hear from John Burgio, who also will have SPOK at our new pastors conference. December 2nd will be President Phil McNeil's Christmas special. And then on December 9th we will have our online worldwide regional special rebroadcast. All of this begins on Wednesday, October 7th, so make sure you like and subscribe. Hi, my name is Leah Waters and I'm the Social Media and Marketing Coordinator here at ELAM Fellowship. Welcome to another episode of the well, an ELAM Fellowship Podcast. [00:01:55] Speaker B: Foreign [00:01:59] Speaker A: this season on the well Podcast, we're featuring powerful voices from our Prophetic Conference and New Pastors Conference. In this episode we hear from Sylvia Evans as she shares a timely message from this year's Prophetic Conference. Let's dive in. [00:02:13] Speaker C: Let me go to what God did for me this morning that I came and spoke to Brother Phil because I felt it was such a significant word that he was speaking to me. And so I'm altering some of what I would have done in the other session to speak to you of Ezra and the ministry of Ezra as God shared it with me this morning that there is an Ezra move that he is stirring right now and I feel and I'm going to try to get my voice steady and not cry. But. The largest burden that I have carried for Elam is that we have lost Some of the treasures of our inheritance. None of inheritance, heritage. Several years ago, God gave me a teaching and I shared it at Elam of the difference between inheritance and heritage. And I'm not, not prepared to give you the whole teaching because there were many parallels. But the main thing is we tend to think of inheritance as something tangible, something material, or something that is a treasure that has history in it. But it may not have history. It may be just money, it might be buildings, it might be cars, it might be anything. But it tends to be more thing oriented, something from the hand of one who has passed it. But heritage is a matter of the heart and spirit. And if you pass the things without the heart, they'll get rid of the things, they won't have value because they don't have heart. But when it's come from somebody whose spirit and heart has been given to you. And this is a token of the spirit and heart of one who chose to share it with you, to entrust it to you, to give it to you. If you want to add to it, if you want to polish it in a different way, perhaps it'll be okay. But don't forget where it came from or from whom or out of what motivation. And it can be the least expensive item. But because, for example, if it's a locket that was worn around Great Grandma's neck and had a picture of her grandmother in it, you've got generations of heart, of spirit, of worship in that very item. And one of the reasons that I just realized that I use that is it happened. I won't tell where, but it happened. So heritage has a value that is so far beyond the tangible part of it that those who love the heart of the person who gave it will receive it as a heart gift. I feel that it's our heritage of Ivan and Minnie Spencer and their heirs as well. And I'm. I'm born to Daniel and Ruth Evans. She was a Larkin. She was the first Larkin to come to Elim. My grandfather. Larkin became friends with Ivan Spencer when Elam moved over to Red Creek, just long enough for the Larkins to get involved. My mother went to school with the Spencer daughters in high school and then came to Bible school when it moved to Hornell. My father lived nearby in a little village called Friendship, and it stuck with him all of his life. He's one of the friendliest people I knew. And then he made friends with little Ruthie. And then they made people. Four of us, and I am the third. My brother Bernard has served in Elim many years my brother David has. He graduated from Elam, pastored for 31 years in Michigan, and then was taken very suddenly to heaven with a brain hemorrhage. My younger brother Joel serves in many ways in the ministry. He just never thought he was going to be a pastor and he didn't have to be, except just to help my brother David in a time of need as pastoring. But I feel as though there were few Fraziers of earth passed to me. And I've been in Georgia for many years. I was in Georgia for many years. I went to Houghton College. I didn't come to Elam College because I was supposed to be going to Africa to take the school at our first mission station there. So I went to Houghton for that and spent my summers at Elam and then found myself here as a teacher in 19 something back in the 19s. 1964. And I have been called back by one named Bob Sorghry calling me and saying, when you walked out of the room at a meeting yesterday, I felt the Lord said I was to invite you to come be a member of my church. At the time, I had been the director of women's ministries for Elam Fellowship. And I was actually pacing the floor and asking the Lord, will you let me resign so I can just stay in Georgia, not flying up two, three times a month and just stay in Georgia and go from here. I'll go wherever you ask me to go, but may I be released from that? In Bob Sorge, Paul's means that I feel that the Lord has spoken to me to invite you to come and be a member of my church. And it took three and a half years. We walked together as friends, he and his wife. And then. And then the call came to teach at Elam. Does anybody know the voice of Paul Johansen? Well, it sounds a lot like the voice of God, if you know what I mean. I couldn't figure it out. Was this really God or was this Paul? But it came. So I moved from Georgia, but I go back frequently. Just came in from two weeks down there administering there. So what I'm saying to you is I was born Elim, and it's in my heart, it's heritage. And I have a rich inheritance as well from it in spiritual things. But one of the treasures, and I have been weeping for some time that we lost the right for the congregation to lead in worship. And I say it kindly, I say it understanding. But it's when instruments became predominant on the platform and at an Elam conference People started coming to me. I guess I represent something old saying, what's happened to Elam? People coming to serve would come to me and say, what happened to Elam? What do you mean? There's no corporate singing in the spirit. There's no spontaneous prophetic happening during the worship. There's a difference in the style of music, of course, that's. Who doesn't have several styles of music. And so I'm not speaking in a negative about the different styles of music. It was just that we were in a different day. That when what we had traditionally experienced, which was after singing a song that we've exalted. That we might just start. Someone just might sing Alleluia Alleluia and others would join Alleluia Hallelujah, Hallelujah Bless you, Jesus if you know, do it or just join Hallelujah Hallelujah Bless you, Lord we bless you, Lord and then here's what happened. It used to join until a great choir was singing. And the choir. It probably does make a difference if I tell you that I spent many years as choir director. But I'm in Rochester right now, aren't I? Did anybody go to the college near here, Roberts College, and sing under Robert Schuan? Or do you remember Robert Schuen? He was my choir director in college at Houghton. And I'm speaking of him because here's something that he said. The first day of our rehearsal, our meeting, he made an announcement. In a college that has an outstanding music department. And lots of musicians that became soloists and were trained to be soloists. And he came as the choir director and made an announcement the first day. There are no soloists in my choirs. And we're standing in, what, 50, 60. Most of whom were music majors and intended to be soloists. And they'd have to do a recital as a soloist and all of that. Well, he just let the shock take us for a moment. And then he explained what was his intention. His intention was to bring us into such a unity. That we listened to the one beside us and the one behind. And the one beside and the one in front. And we tuned to one another rather than singing our own solo. Do you understand that? Well, I understood it as my Elam experience congregationally, with no director but the Holy Spirit. Or sometimes one of the leaders would be at the pulpit. And they might lead us out with just sing Alleluia or Jesus or Jesus and. And it would happen. And sometimes it was so soft, so gentle. And one time the praise and worship. And it goes from praise to worship according to whatever you define praise and how you define worship. But the important thing is no attention was going to the singers. Every singer's intention was going to Jesus. And then his Spirit would move in the midst of the congregation. And if it was a response to a prayer request, for example, then who knew how to pray for that drastic and emergency situation or for that. That. That thing that was happening in one of the countries. And so we would begin perhaps with singing in the Spirit and saying the things concerning him, singing his name to him, singing another name to him. And I might be singing one name and you're singing another, but everybody was singing to the Lord. And we weren't listening to one another for, oh, excellent singer. We were listening to one another to tune. And what was so characteristic was the ebb and flow where the singing would rise. Thor. Almost fall off the edge into a hum. And then from over there it would rise again. Or during that pulse of just hovering. Kind of like Genesis, chapter one, verse one, or is it two? And the Spirit of the Lord did what King James, I think, says, brood it, say it now, stretch it out. Say it again now, soften it, stretch it out more. Rue and the Holy Spirit would linger over the congregation then. Not always, but very often. You didn't have to go up and ask permission. You didn't have to go give it all to somebody else. And they'd decide whether that's a good thing, where you're dealing with amateurs and you're teaching people to prophesy. But there comes a time when there are those who are so known in the prophetic that it's safe to say, when you have a word, just give me a signal. What my pastor Bob did, what other pastors have done as well. And it's nobody interrupting. It's not superseding. It's birthed out of the worship that you've been hearing about here and experiencing here. But it has to have enough of an experienced leader to be able to make room for it when it's happening and then know what to do. This is what I loved about the prophetic ministry at Elam Carlton Spencer. You've heard his name. I think you've seen him lead a meeting. A prophetic word comes. What did it say to do [00:19:13] Speaker A: if [00:19:14] Speaker C: it was a word? Fall on your knees, cry out to me. What do you think? People fell on their knees? Of course I fell on my knees. That's why now I'm not handicapped, I'm kneecapped. But actually, just so you don't Think that's all there is to it. I had massive cancer in my leg and lost a lot of muscle and tendon. But I'm here, and I'm here speaking in this tone of voice, of just educating, appealing, trying to find oneness with those who have a history with Elam or others, that I believe that it was a treasure given to Elim that helped to birth the prophetic. And Elam paid a price for standing for personal prophetic ministry. Other Pentecostals spoke against Elim because of it. And sometimes, of course, it did get dangerous a few times when someone prophesied to this one that you're going to marry that one when that one wasn't the right one, and. And that happened on high levels sometimes. But I'd rather risk, as people are searching to know God in personal ways and learning at a conference like this, I'd rather risk that maybe there are some things that need to be adjusted. But that's why you have good apostolic oversight, why you have good teachers, is why you have leaders that know how to rescue it if something is. And it's why you have amateurs. Don't worry about having amateurs. If you don't have anything fresh from God, they'll find something someplace else, maybe even in the world. But don't worry about amateurs. Teach them, lead them. But as they learn to know the spirit of God, then maybe you have meetings in which, in home groups, people are learning just to speak the word that they're hearing what you're hearing here. But still my focus is on the birthing of this. The rebirthing of what I believe was a great treasure. I can't make it happen. Thank you for letting me speak. [00:21:54] Speaker A: We are here to invite you to come back to 2026 saturate. [00:21:58] Speaker B: My experience has been really good. I love seeing everybody, you know, who's around my age, you know, like, worship God, you know, freely, with any, like, judgment. [00:22:05] Speaker A: It's been really good. Like, you can just feel God's presence here. [00:22:08] Speaker B: I've been coming to Saturate for six years, and all these six years have been phenomenal. God has touched our hearts, and the Holy Spirit is flowing through this building and touching every single one of these scenes. [00:22:17] Speaker A: You guys having fun? [00:22:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. What's your best part of the day? Worship. This conference has just reminded me of the importance of, even when I don't feel it, to continue to see God's face. Because when I do that, it just brings that joy in a place where I feel like I couldn't get it. From anything else. The sermons are really good. I've learned a lot and I think they really hit close to home, especially like for like young adults, like going to college next year. We can't wait to see you at saturated 2026. You won't want to miss it. [00:22:46] Speaker A: For more information or for Tickets, check out www.saturateyouth.com. see you at saturate. [00:22:54] Speaker C: But what I saw this morning, what God just downloaded on me is it's an Ezra movement that he's about to do. It was Ezra's movement. But what was Ezra's movement? It was the movement birthed by King Cyrus. King Cyrus, a pagan king. I don't think he was totally pagan because he knew that God had put it in his heart and he had been prophesied of 150 years ago that he himself would be one who would be part of the restoration of. Of Israel. And the king, not Ezra, the king announced that there was to be a house of God built back in where? Israel, in Jerusalem. And he's the one who said, whose ever spirit is stirred up in him, who will go. And he's talking to God's people that had. Maybe this generation hadn't left from Jerusalem, but these were the seed of Israel, these are the seed of Abraham, these are the seed of Jesus generation that now are in a place sort that one out of Jesus generation how that works. But this, this is a company of people who have now become adjusted and shaped by the culture of Babylon. And some of them are more comfortable there. Now when you say leave here, take a pilgrimage and go back to that place that is all torn down and you're going to help to restore it. Say restore. Just say it. What's it mean? Put new stock. Put something new in it. I love all the rewords, but I won't go there right now. I just love all the rewords, except even sometimes the word like remove, which he's been talking to me about lately I've been speaking on being moved. When God moves his people, when. When he moves your heart, when he moves you sometimes physically. But I had never thought of the word remove as being another move that God is doing in your life. But it becomes for most of us a negative word. But when God starts removing things from one place to get them back in place, those that have been put aside and have been lost and nobody knows where they are and what happened to them, and then somebody finds a storehouse where they are and God says, I want them removed from there. They were removed from There, I want them removed from there. I want them put back in there. And so I'm going to tell you an experience that I had because the prophetic experience is so varied for me. And I. I have no idea where I was. I don't know geographically where I was. I don't know what building I. I don't know where I was. But I suddenly was hearing this raucous, unholy laughter. And it was so loud, it was as though I were in the place where hundreds were laughing this awful laughter. And then I was suddenly realizing I was on a balcony of some kind, and I was looking down into this great hall where people hand me my water bottle or here is here. Just let me have something. Thank you, Alina. The real good. No, no, no, no. Keep the lip. Yeah, I'm just using it. And I saw every person in that room, hundreds of people had this beautiful gold vessel in his or her hand. And I was hearing wild laughter. And then I knew I was looking in on the hall in Babylon when Belshazzar, his last night talk about being removed. But he was first moved when he saw a hand on the wall. Why? Writing on the wall. Why? Because his grandfather had stolen all those choice vessels, the individual vessels. I do the whole teaching on the anointing, the whole course on the anointing, but just to understand, every peace that was put into the tabernacle had to be anointed. Even the things that had to empty, the leftovers from the sacrifice, everything, every fork, every tong, everything in the tabernacle must be fully anointed, doused in anointing, because it was consecrated for God's purpose. And so when Nebuchadnezzar raised the city, he took. Took all of the choice vessels. Don't think the enemy isn't after the church in that way as well. All the choice vessels. And now Belshazzar had decided to celebrate his greatness. And he told them, go get those. You know they've got those goblets in there. And Grandpa brought them down. I want those for my party tonight. And they handed out those holy vessels. Are you hearing anything about holiness here? Those holy vessels, they had been created according to God's design by God's servants who were anointed for the task to make them. They were shaped, every one of them, individually. That speaks of the house of God right here. All of the vessels, every one designed separately. And as they carried them into that banquet hall and passed them out among the Lord's and ladies, both men and women, and they filled them with unholy drink. And when I heard that laughter, it's one of the most real experiences I ever had. What happened to my heart is hard for me to explain of what had happened to God's heart when he saw it. But then there are those, like Cyrus, who. We don't know what he had ever heard about the living God, nor how he had heard it. But he's the one who said, who will go. And here's the key. If you read in Ezra, chapter one, here's the key that that person's spirit would have stirred him up, whose spirit has stirred him. And as I've been speaking about the move of God that in this day. And then how he moves you, moves me, moves us personally, sometimes emotionally, sometimes takes us through something that we didn't want to go through. I have two friends, one in the north and one in the south, one Elam, who are in terrible pain, griming with pain, sometimes in their backs. And I'm saying to God, give us the gift. Give me the gift of healing so that I don't just try to comfort somebody and tell them, well, one day you'll get surgery. I don't want to hear that. I've had my back after. It was fall, that happened on fourth floor at Elam. And I came down straddling the back of a wooden chair. And every vertebra in my backbone was. Was turned in a different direction. I drove to Florida in that condition, but I lived with that for over a year. I could not lie on a bed for any period of time. I'd get up and sleep on the floor. I could not drive without changing the seat and having a pillow and all. It was constant. The only thing was I could stand. And because I was a schoolteacher, I could stand and teach. The rest of it was pain, pain, pain. I went to a convention in Atlanta, Georgia. I had just moved there that summer, to Georgia. Waycross, Georgia. We went to a convention. And it was a place where George Veach went down to Pasteur eventually. And there were others there. But I had tried to sit on those hard pews, even though they had cushions. I couldn't sit through a service. I stood at the back and I. I was so tired of it that at the end of one of the services, maybe there was an altar call. I don't know if there was. I went and climbed all the levels of platform. There were about five levels of platform. Went to the top and knelt down. And I was telling God, I can't take it anymore. Or something like that. And I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. I looked up and I looked in the face of. Not as young as when I'd known him before, but he was still a young man. And I said, david, aren't you David Clark? He said, aren't you Sylvia Evis? I said, yes. What are you doing in Georgia? What are you doing in Georgia? We got that one straight. David and Mary Clark graduated with Paul and Gloria Johansen. They all ended up in Africa and very dear friends of mine. But he explained that that church supported their ministry. So he came to their convention and he said, is there something I can pray for? So, yeah. I said, I'm in so much pain. I'm so tired of it. He didn't make any scene. He didn't shout. He laid his hand on my shoulder, had two sentences. Thank Jesus for healing me. I got up and walked back, did every movement I could. It was done. It was done. It was done. And even when I had to go to a chiropractor years later in Georgia, one that was a little cynical about our ministry, but it was a good chiropractor. And God told me that I was to go and that it was going to hurt until I went. But it wasn't my back. It was upper. But he took a picture of my back, and he looked at me and said, how old are you? Don't you know you're not supposed to ask a lady that? Oh, I'm very sorry. He was a young man. Oh, I'm very. I'm very sorry. I'm very sorry. I said, it's really okay. I was 45. And he said. He said, but we're backbone. Yes, perfect. He said, it's perfect. And he took his little thing and poked on the. You know, tell me what it is. Yeah, the plastic one. Okay. And he used his little thing and pointed to the. To the ends of all the little joints. Everything was perfect. And that's why last night, I was crying out, last night, I want the gift of healing. I like healing. I'd like to have a new leg. I would. But I'd rather, if I had to choose, have a gift that comes out of my prayer, my praise, my worship, my song to the Lord. And he would endow me with that. Does anybody here want more of the spirit, of God, of the gifts? Well, those things are available. And nobody's going to tell you that God doesn't do miracles today. They're not going to tell you that tongues are something else. They're not going to tell you a negative. It's everything that he gave us. So I'm going to tell you one more story. And I don't know the time. I don't know when I. About 10 minutes. All right. You counted off my brother Phil. So a few years ago on the week before I was to have the surgery on my leg and there was still conversation of whether it would be taken the whole leg. And pastors are so unusual in our beautiful pastors. So my pastors at that time. I'm on my third pastor at Zion as they forsake me after a while, But he's being real nice to me. But Chris and Joan Wood decided to take me to Florida. And there was a mighty revival happening there, as it was known. And there was someone that the best I understood was fairly young new convert, but he had a lifetime of tattoos. And so we went. They helped me. And there was a good spirit of song the first night. And the worship team flowed beautifully actually in releasing the spirit in the place. It may have been the third night, maybe it was only the second, but I think it might have been the third night. We got there and learned that that music team was given a rest for that night and they brought in another worship team. It was very clear that they were good musicians. And it was very clear that they were very proud of. Was very plea. Very clear that they were selling something besides, you know what I mean? The thing is, there were thousands of people because of my condition, we were able to come in a special door and we didn't have to wait in line. It was a clear move of God there. But the leader, the key preacher wasn't out on the platform yet or his team. They weren't out on the platform, but there were several thousand people under. I think it was a big warehouse or something. Hungry. They came to get something. They came for something that would be real. They didn't come to a performance. And God came. Nobody could explain it. A keyboardist who was quite active, suddenly something happened to him and he back. He went down. He went down. And all of a sudden he is slithering right down through there like an alligator. Happened. Where'd he go? And I suppose those guitars are worth protecting. And so then it was the guitarist going down and his guitar went down with him. And then another musician and another until the only one standing was a wise guitar player. He decided to put it down because when you go under the power of the spirit, don't think you're leaving anything behind. If you go under the power spirit, everything That's a part of you, part of your ministry, part of your gifting. It all goes for a fresh baptism. And they were scattered on the floor. Eventually the event, an evangelist came on. Dude on the side. I'm sure somebody had given him the word and he just went on the floor. And those that were with him and what happened in the house. Silence. One of the most holy moments I've ever witnessed and been part of [00:41:40] Speaker B: because [00:41:40] Speaker C: it was so evident that God decided he would get the glory or get the attention or whatever. And I back up to say, I don't mean that they did anything wrong. It was just a different spirit there. But that changed. God sovereignly did it. And you may not want that to happen here. Unless you're prepared for it. But God's surprises and his presence was so strong in place. Silence. Thousands of people. Not a sound until one voice. Jesus, Jesus. A few more voices. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And suddenly thousands of people are singing the name of Jesus in the most beautiful harmony. And then went into some speaking in tongues and some singing because you don't just have to say the name. You are wonderful, beautiful Jesus. And the harmony, it was the most heavenly, the ultimate. It's not that I haven't ever heard it before. I'm saying it was ultimate. You were worship. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Hallelujah. So I just want to give you two or three instructions of there's a time for us to say sing your own song. But what happened with sing your own song was that everybody started on a different pitch and shut themselves in with Jesus and they were singing their own song to the Lord. But it wasn't a choir. So what happens in the singing of spirit that I believe came from Michigan, in Detroit. Beals, Bomb Beals. I believe that's how it came in several of those. Brother Frink, for example, and Stanley Fronshum, who used to do the evangel publication man of God, number of people came and joined Elam. But Ivan Spencer's attitude. And I'll bring it down to where we can go somewhere with brother John on the piano for closing. Right, Ready? Go ahead. I mean, I'm going to bring it to this. This was the old attitude of Elam. If God is moving somewhere, we're going. They tested out the elders, all went up. The Toronto revival. Well, Ivan Spencer, in his last years, when he was no longer the president of heba, the Bible Institute, he drove a Rambler, a Nash Rambler. Well, why not? Because that's all he did. He rambled any place that he Heard that God was moving. It could be a small group, it could be a full meeting. But he went out to Detroit. He experienced it. He sent back the word send everybody. Send everybody. George Veech had a story that he couldn't go because there was a handicapped person, needed someone to stay. But also, George was the one that milked cows. That's how he met Ivan Spencer when he was a young boy. And Ivan Spencer said, you need to come to Elim. He said, you got any cows? And Ivan said, I do. And he did, always. And so he says, okay, I'll come. So he milked cows, and he stayed behind to milk cows. He's not here to tell the story for you, but he told me. And while he was there, he was thinking he was missing what was going on in Detroit. But, you know, he loved cows. Let me be careful how I say this, but he had fallen in love with one of Ivan Spencer's heifers, Ruth. And when Ruth came home, he told him everything that had happened there and everything that God had spoken. And he said that God had spoken all of that to him while he was milking cows and whatever. But the contagion of that move came to Elim as a major center. And then later, in the days of Osteder, Bob Mumford and others, Elam took camp meetings through the west coast and to different areas. But in the meantime, things began to change at Elim. And in my opinion, we let something be lost of what was the corporate choir, what was the corporate expression, but also how in those times we could do warfare, other times we could sweetly worship. Other times we have heard a tragedy, and everybody comes in to pray over that or pray for a nation. Sometimes it's going on our knees or whatever. So I'm not asking to duplicate anything. I'm asking for a fresh wave of God, but that we not lose. All right. I hope you can understand my heart. I feel a treasure of our heritage needs to be brought back. [00:48:29] Speaker A: Thanks for watching. We have so many amazing episodes to share with you, both upcoming and on our website. So make sure you check them out wherever you listen to podcasts. And for even more amazing content, go to elamfellowship.org and check. Check out the Hub. Not only are they all there, but so much more. And if this message was meaningful to you, please show your support by liking, subscribing and sharing this channel. It really does make a big difference for us. I'm Leah. See you around the well.