The Old Testament is our "kindergarten" for understanding the pattern of the Holy Spirit's gifting and work. That pattern is this: God gives an assignment to a person; then the Holy Spirit is given to equip him or her for the assignment.

The proof of the Spirit's presence is that the person is able to complete the assignment effectively through the supernatural enabling of the Holy Spirit. Truly understood and embraced, the Holy Spirit's gifts allow the Church to be Christ-centered, to maintain unity and oneness of heart, and to practice genuine, powerful love.

Henry T. Blackaby is president of Blackaby Ministries International, an organization he founded in order to help people experience God.

Born in British Columbia, Dr. Blackaby has devoted his lifetime to ministry. He has served as a music director, education director, and pastor in churches in California and Canada, as well as president of Canadian Baptist Theological College for seven years and president of the Canadian Southern Baptist Conference. He has provided leadership to thousands of pastors and laymen across North America and has spoken to missionaries and other groups in over ninety countries of the world.

Blackaby studied English and history at the University of British Columbia as an undergraduate and earned his B.D. and Th.M. from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. He holds four honorary doctorate degrees.

In 1970, Dr. Blackaby followed God’s call to pastor a tiny church in Saskatoon, Canada. Not only did Faith Baptist Church grow to many times its original membership, but it led to the founding of thirty-eight new churches and became a center for pastoral training.

Dr. Blackaby went on to serve on staff at the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through the Home Mission Board, he led revival and spiritual awakening in the life of the convention. He also served as special assistant to the presidents of the International Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources. Although he is now officially retired, Dr. Blackaby continues to provide consultative leadership in the life of the Christian community.

Blackaby has published an array of spiritually influential messages in his lifetime, most notably Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God (1990), which has sold 4 million copies and has been translated into over 45 languages. His books, Experiencing God Together and Experiencing God Day by Day Devotional, both won the Gold Medallion Award.

Henry lives with his wife, Marilynn, in Rex, Georgia. He has five children (Richard, Tom, Melvin, Norman, and Carrie), all of whom are serving in Christian ministry, and fourteen grandchildren. His long-range goal is to encourage revival and spiritual awakening in the United States, Canada, and across the world through speaking, praying, enlisting, writing and mentoring. His hobbies are reading and traveling.