Ray Sell, who died suddenly of a blood disease in December of 1994, was one of the revival's most powerful evangelists. During May and June of 1994, incredible things happened in western New York State as a result of his ministry. According to some reports, in May, while Ray Sell was ministering at Elim Bible Institute in Lima, NY, the visible shekinah glory of the Lord became manifest.
Ray had been touched by the revival after visiting Rodney M. Howard-Browne's meetings at Emmanuel Christian Church in Spring Hill, Florida in February of 1993. Although he was pastor of another church, he spent some time as a "catcher" for Rodney while he was in Florida. He resigned his church and continued to attend Emmanuel before beginning his itinerant ministry as a evangelist the following year.
Early openings in 1994 led him to Michigan. Gerald Tricket of the Elim Missionary Assemblies attended Ray's meetings there, and felt freshly anointed. Gerald therefore invited him to his church north of Detroit, and a cloudburst of blessings followed there as well. Excited about what was happening, Gerald called another associate, Ron Burgio, in Buffalo, and insisted he come to the meetings. In Buffalo there was another glorious encounter in the Lord, and the pastor of Elim Gospel Church in Lima was urged to attend, and he was revolutionized.
According to Warren Jones [fax to Richard Riss, 24 June, 1994], Ray held meetings at Elim Bible Institute during the week of May 1st, and for one day May 10th during its annual Pastors' Conference. He returned May 15th for a second week. The rest of the week of May 8th, he was in Buffalo.
Carlton and Elizabeth Spencer arrived at Elim for Ray Sell's meetings there in the beginning of May. Carlton Spencer wrote [to Richard & Kathryn Riss, December 10, 1994], "Never have we had so many come and stay so late -- from 7:30 pm to 2:00 am was not uncommon. God was there and lives were revolutionized! Elim Fellowship's Annual Pastor's Conference convened immediately after the Sell meetings. Ray stayed on, ministering twice, I believe. But the pastors who had already had a fresh encounter with the Lord followed up laying hands on many -- and the overflow continued. This made many openings for Ray in New York, PA and Ontario, as far as Ottawa, and blessing followed."
One of the people to attend Ray Sell's meetings at Love Joy Gospel Church in Buffalo, New York, Ted Pawlicki, wrote on May 17, "The meetings are continuing and are quite extraordinary. People come up for prayer and often fall down, sometimes laughing. I have been to a number of these meetings and I feel that the Lord is really in them. A lot of lives are being changed." The following day, he wrote, "Ray Sell ...does distribute Rodney's books. However, the practices of falling down, laughing, etc., have continued in the Church after this fellow has left.... The whole thing is very new to me. The first meeting of this kind was only a month ago.... When I first saw this stuff, I was enormously skeptical. Nonetheless, I cannot deny the fact that I have sampled the first fruits of these events and found them quite sweet and wholesome. I can see evidence of the Holy Spirit working (both in my own life and in the lives of those around me) through these meetings and manifestations."
On May 25, Ted Pawlicki wrote, "I have attended several meetings administered by an evangelist named Ray Sell. The meetings have continued, after the evangelist moved on, under the administration of the Pastor of the Church I attend (Love Joy Gospel Church in Buffalo, New York). The meetings that I have been in around Buffalo have been very orderly during the teachings. Sometimes people shout 'amen', sometimes people laugh briefly. Sometimes the preacher laughs briefly. The services follow a reasonable, predictable cadence of worship, teaching, offering, worship (brief), testimony, teaching, altar call, prayer for individuals. The preacher/pastor usually prays for those giving testimonies. These people often fall to the ground (the ushers function as "catchers"). They will sometimes laugh, but I have not seen such laughter disrupt the rest of the meeting. I have sat and heard some very good exposition of the word of God and hardly noticed the fact that there are a half dozen people lying on the floor in the front of the sanctuary. I have also seen a large number of people come up for the altar call wanting to give their lives to Jesus, by the way. The final prayer for individuals can last several hours and it is where large numbers of people start falling down. It is during this time that large numbers of people are laughing. I, personally, have gotten prayer, but I have not 'gone out under the power' / 'been slain in the spirit,' as of yet. The preachers and pastors have been quick to point out that the manifestations are not the thing. Getting in touch with God is the thing. I have been told not to worry, that God works differently with different people. I have also been told that I need to 'press in to God' and 'yield to the Holy Spirit.' I have been told to seek the blesser (the Holy Spirit), not the blessing (a dramatic manifestation). I feel like God has touched my heart, but I have not 'fallen down.' We are also told that getting prayer from the people in charge is not necessary, that God can touch you as you sit in your pew. ... In the meetings I have seen, only the preachers, pastors, and appointed elders of the Church have been praying for people. People in the congregation have been discouraged from praying for the 'anointing' to come upon the person next to them. (During the meeting, that is; people have been encouraged to practice at home). The reason for this seems to be to maintain order in the meeting. I admit, it is strange to be sitting in my pew, singing praises to God while 100 or so people are lying of the floor of the Church. People laughing with all their might while lying on the floor does create an impression of disorder. It is a strange and shocking sight to behold. However, this disorder appears to happen at its appointed time. It does not seem to happen at times when quietness is in order (the teachings). So, I would say that I have seen the orderly administration of some disorderly manifestations. The "disorder", however, has its place in an orderly meeting. And the fruit has been good. This is what I have seen."
Ted Pawlicki reported that, by June 1, there had been about sixty "Holy Ghost Revival" meetings in the Western New York (WNY) area during the previous six weeks, at Love Joy Gospel Church in Buffalo, Elim Gospel Church in Lima, and Tabernacle AG in Orchard Park. He wrote, "there seems to be a coming together of churches through these meetings. I was at a meeting last Sunday, where we counted visitors from at least 30 different churches.... In the WNY meetings, I have seen a handful of people give their lives to the Lord each night I have been there (about 10). This may not sound like 'large numbers' but it is more than I have seen come in several years previous. Lots of people have been coming up for rededication."
By June 9, Ted was saying that the revival had been in progress in western New York for about two months. "I was quite skeptical about the whole thing at first, but after I searched the scriptures and saw the fruit I became convinced that it was a move of God. I got a little taste of laughter (joy) about a week or so into it. Several people very close to me have had some rather dramatic manifestations and been filled with joy. (I mean really filled). However, I have not had any of the 'manifestations' associated with the move since my initial giggles a few weeks ago."
On June 20, he wrote, "there was a week of revival meetings at Elim about one month ago. Evangelist Ray Sell was administering at the time. Brother Ray has run meetings in about different 5 churches (Elim included) in the Western New York area in the last 3 months or so. I didn't go to the Elim meetings, but a crew of people from Love Joy Gospel Church (LJGC) in Buffalo (the church I attend) was there. Pastor Ron Burgio of LJGC is affiliated with Elim. There was some kind of leadership conference going on at Elim at the time.... I have heard testimonies about . . . visions .... Several people have mentioned the 'cloud.'"
During his testimony at Rodney Howard-Browne's summer campmeeting in Louisville, Kentucky, at 10:00 am on Thursday, July 21, 1994, Ray Sell said, "I was in the ministry full time -- this was about two years ago, and I became very frustrated -- I became very disgusted, because I was reading the word of God and I was seeing that I should be laying hands on the sick, they should be recovering. That I would be praying for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit and they were not being filled. And I just cried out to God, and I said, 'God, I know your word's true, so obviously the problem's with me.' And I began to cry out heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching prayers to God, and what was happening I now realize was that I was beginning to get hungry. And it was just a short time after that where brother Rodney, you came to our mother church, Emmanuel Christian Church in Spring Hill, and you prayed for me about the third day of the meetings, and not a whole lot happened at that point. But the following Sunday, at my own home church, the fire of God fell on me as I walked up to the pulpit. And what I now realize was at that time, God was beginning a work on the inside of me. And I just want to share this, because I believe there's people out there, you've been touched and you don't really realize it and all hell is breaking out in your life, and you're seeing everybody filled with the joy, and you wonder, 'What's wrong with me?'
"Well I literally went through hell for a week after that point. I went through depression, I went through anger, and what was happening was [that] God was beginning to purge out of me everything that was not of Him. And He later showed me that before He could fill me with His power, that He had to eliminate everything that was not of Him, and He completely emptied me during that week. And the following Sunday, Ray Sell died.
"And it was at the moment that that happened, that He began to fill me with His power and His anointing. And He began to break my heart with the things that broke His heart. And He told me to resign my church, which I did. He said He was going to take me out to the road and great and mighty things were going to happen in my ministry, and I began to sit at my home church with pastor Bill Wilson, and absolutely nothing happened in the ministry for almost a year. And God said, 'Be faithful. Let me complete that work. Let me prepare you. Let me do what I have to do, and when it happens it's going to happen fast, and it's going to happen big, so you get ready.'
"There were times where it was difficult, and there were times where the finances [were] very difficult, and we never said anything to anybody -- we just trusted God. And He continued to tell me what happened is going to happen very big and very fast. And, I just want to encourage people out there -- God has touched you. He's beginning to birth a vision on the inside of you. He's beginning to show you great and mighty things. But be patient. Don't try to kick the door down. Wait on Him. Be faithful. Where you're at, begin to allow God to birth that on the inside of you to prepare you, to give you the message that He has for you. And to begin to prepare the people that He's going to have you minister to. And in His timing He will open up the door that no man can close."