Gary Sheng & Brenda Gentry - Spiritual Journey and Revival Vision Interview

Opening Vision Discussion

Brenda opens with strategic consideration: "I was thinking maybe we need to change the strategy... How can we dress this up, this movement up? That it doesn't feel churchy."

Gary clarifies the vision: "We're not creating a building where people go to. I mean, we'll direct people to Apostle's Church, but we are creating a movement that is about having a direct relationship with God. And I believe that we're going to be persecuted by Christians for that."

Brenda agrees: "When you have Jesus on you, sometimes it really doesn't care what the world has to say because you know what you're doing is the right thing."

Simba interjects: "It's called power... Authority and power."

Self-Introduction

Gary asks: "How would you describe yourself?"

Brenda: "First of all, a wife, mother, child of God and an evangelist in the making because a lot of change in the last three years... What matters most is that I'm a child of God. And I want to bring a lot of people to Christ. That's the main reason we're here on Earth."

On why more people don't feel this calling: "Because the world is set up to where we think chasing success is what we are supposed to do. And when you realize that God just made it so easy for us. He said, seek me first, and then I'll give you all these things."

Kenya Upbringing and Pentecostal Formation

Polygamist Heritage to Christianity

Brenda shares family background: "My dad came from a polygamist family, right? He was the first of probably 27... He's the eldest of 27. And he's the first one who became Christian. Found Jesus through my mom."

On Catholic missionary influence: "In the 1940s... There was a lot of Catholics going deeper into the village. Those other missionaries were not going into the village like the Catholic missionaries were."

Hardcore Pentecostal Years

"After I turned eight. Pentecostal, that's the word I would use. We were Pentecostals hardcore. We were not allowed to wear pants, we could not braid our hair, we could not put makeup."

Why these restrictions? "They believed wearing any makeup or lipstick was associated with the devil... Men should wear pants. Girls can't wear pants."

Reflection: "I found out later, as I got older, there were more doing the works and not grace."

Middle Class Stability

"We were middle class, we were not rich, we were not poor. We were just middle class and in Africa, middle class is good. You're living comfortable."

Father's provision: "My dad did well for seven kids and adopting maybe three others or four others."

Germany Journey and Meeting Simba

Cultural Shock Period (1994-1997)

"I got to Germany, I was literally, it was 1994... I didn't know anybody except maybe two friends."

The party years: "I was just wilding out. Like, I was just like, party over here. Club every day... Three years."

Why? "I think it was culture shock... Coming from a very Pentecostal upbringing to, okay, I'm in Germany, I'm by myself."

Paradox: "People used to ask me, like, why are you even going to the club? You don't drink, you don't smoke."

Divine Orchestration with Simba

"At that military base I met my husband. So there was a plan for me to be in Germany. Because how else would I have met Simba?"

Transformation: "My life became brand new. I was super confident. I felt like I could change the world. I was like, okay, what is it that I can't do?"

Confidence building: "If you have a man that loves you and believes in you and sees more than... We don't, we're not taught confidence back home."

Learning professional norms: "I remember his boss was telling him, every time I meet your wife, she can never look me in the eye... In Africa, it's a respect thing."

Simba's Spiritual Leadership

"He was actually more spiritual than I was because he was raised by his grandmother... His mom was on drugs, so his grandmother raised him."

Return to church: "He said, hey, let's go to church. This, what you're doing is not helping. Get back spiritual."

Kenya visit: "I was like, oh, man... What's he gonna say when he sees the house that I grew up in? And he went, and he loved it."

Kansas Period Under Bishop Clarence Williams

Spiritual Formation (2002-2007)

"He became more like a father figure... We were, my husband was probably 29 when we got to Kansas, I was 27 or 26. So we needed... that covering."

Teaching quality: "His teaching was good and he wasn't religious."

Prayer Warrior Training

Lady Wanda's influence: "His late wife, Lady Wanda... She was a prayer warrior. Oh, my gosh."

Intensive prayer: "Wake up once a week. We would go at 5 in the morning... And then there were weekends where we could overnight... soak service, where you stay from 7pm till like 5am in the church."

Impact: "It was good for our spirits. It was good grounding. I got to know the scriptures. He broke it down really well."

Prophetic Gift Development

Gift Recognition at Age 22

"I think I started noticing when I was married, like 22. Like I would tell my mom something, and I would tell my brother something."

Brother's Arrest Warning

"One time I told my brother I had a dream. You gonna get arrested because you're causing ruckus... It wasn't even seven days. I got a call like at 2 in the morning... Your brother got arrested."

School Friend's Amputation

"There's a dream I had of someone I went to elementary school with... This lady had had an accident, car accident. And she was, her leg was amputated."

Confirmation approach: "God told me to pray for you. I'm praying for you. Just know God loves you."

Ongoing Ministry

"He just tells me so and so needs prayer. And I pray for them. There's a friend in South Africa. She's even Muslim. And God say, pray for her."

2012 Health Crisis and Supernatural Healing

Medical System Rejection

"Every time I went to the doctors, they were like, oh, you have something. It's autoimmune... They just were giving me so much medication."

Divine direction: "I realized the Holy Spirit was giving me direction on how to heal my body without using the doctors."

15 Years Medication-Free

"I learned not to be dependent on any medication. I don't take headache medication. I don't take no pain medication. I don't take no medication. It's been almost now 15 years."

How is this possible? "It takes a lot of faith, first of all... Fear and worry is the absence of knowing that you have faith. When fear comes in, then your faith level just subsides."

Integrative Nutrition Certification

"That led me to doing an integrative nutrition course... I got certified to help people to get holistic food rather than... getting your body overly medicated."

Lukewarm Period and Self-Study

Church Independence Phase

After Kansas: "I did not look for a church. I decided I was just gonna spend time on learning for myself, knowing God for myself."

Reasoning: "I didn't want to go under any covering that would mislead me. And a lot of people had been misled."

Tongues Neglect

"I wasn't using the gift of the spirit, a manifestation of speaking in tongues... There were times I would go maybe a year or two without speaking in tongues."

Maintaining Children's Foundation

"The girls always stayed grounded. I made sure they could get to Bible study... They were raised very. They didn't even allow them to watch certain... wizard... They were not even allowed to celebrate Halloween."

Kenneth Hagin and Prosperity Theology

True Prosperity Message

"Kenneth Hagin is one of the best generals that's ever walked this Earth... He was operating in all nine gifts of the Spirit."

God's revelation to Hagin: "God appeared to him and told him... I have created my children to have the best. I want my children to have the best."

Corruption of the Message

"Other people misunderstood that thinking... They thought that 'make you rich' is like, they should just start telling people, sow a hundred thousand dollars and you'll get rich tomorrow."

The ATM God problem: "They made God like an ATM. God's not an ATM... It's a relationship. And he can't just give you cash because he doesn't even know if you're gonna go down the street and crash."

2023 Rapture Dream Transformation

The Vision

"That rapture dream was so clear. Was so clear. I woke up, I was telling them, okay, Jesus coming back soon. Like, he's going to be here so soon."

Urgency: "I was preaching to people, like, okay, like, this is going to happen, like, tomorrow. That's how clear that dream was."

Timeline Revelation

"God is letting you know he's coming in your lifetime. Jesus is coming back in your lifetime."

Personal calculation: "I'm turning 50 this month, right? So if you count 120 years, that means... In the next 70 years, he's gonna be here."

Public Ministry Burden

Initial hesitation: "At first I was like, oh, my God, this was just so sacred. I can't tell anybody."

Divine direction: "I'm gonna open doors for you to say this to people at a larger scale. So you're not supposed to keep this to yourself."

Neighborhood Prayer Ministry

"I go to grocery stores and I look around and I'm like, do they even know Jesus is coming soon?... I walk around my city and I pray for people there. I look at homes and I'm praying... Father, all the people on this street."

Near-death experience confirmation: "This one man got to heaven. And there was so many people that came to meet him. They say, oh, thank you for praying for us... Our prayers are never in vain."

Connection to Apostle Delmar Coward Jr.

First Encounter (2023)

"The very first time I walked in that building, I could feel the presence of God. You didn't have to convince me. You didn't have to tell me. I knew."

Easter 2024 Prophecy

"Apostle speaks some things in my life... I told him about a vision I've had."

Spiritual Warfare - Car Accident

"Simba and I are driving back from Houston. We get rear ended so bad that the car spins around. And we are facing oncoming traffic."

Divine protection: "I know it was a miracle. And the angels are the ones who moved us off the road... There is no way he could have moved off the road that fast."

Enemy's strategy: "The enemy is like, I'm gonna just try and derail you for a bit, because I don't want you to get to know that this is your kingdom connection."

January 2025 Fast and Evangelism Calling

Prayer intensity: "I was spending at least maybe an hour or two speaking in tongues. And in the morning, and then in the evening, I would do again another hour just because I needed to hear, I needed direction."

Clear word: "I had evangelism. And he said that very clear. And I ran to the kitchen to tell my husband."

Susanna and Joanna Model

"The evangelism he wants me to do is support the message of the people who are bringing this, like, support the apostles. Like, you know, how Susanna and Joanna in the Bible... They financed his ministry."

Scriptural confirmation: "The Holy Spirit woke me up right there where it says the ladies' names and saying that they did support Jesus ministry."

Divine Connection to Gary

Holy Spirit Revelation

August 25: "I hear very clearly Gary Sheng in my spirit."

Beef's response: "That was the first time Beef moved so quick because he usually... He was like, oh, yes. Let me set it up."

Daughters' Recognition

Cynthia's reaction: "Mom, you don't know Gary Sheng?... I know him. I know of him."

First Meeting Impact

"The first meeting, I knew. I knew there was going to be something phenomenal out of that meeting. I just knew it."

Gary's readiness: "You are ready. You were ready to go, and I loved that. You're like, okay, let's do it. When can we go to work?"

Recognition: "I'd never met anyone... whose love for the Father... You want to put this out to the world with so much courage."

Spiritual Warfare and Demonic Opposition

General Demon Encounter

Apostle's revelation: "He saw a demon. And you know demons have ranks, right? So he saw the general demon."

Significance: "If they're sending the general demon to you, that means you're going to do in the world is going to impact millions of people."

Previous encounter: "He had seen that one time... when Elder Wilkins had Covid and they thought he was gonna... his life was in danger."

Angelic Presence

San Antonio gathering: "He invited this man from San Antonio who was healed of stage four cancer. And when he came in the house, he said there were angels."

Witness confirmation: "One of the ladies said, well, I did see. I was able to see an angel."

House transformation: "We felt so much peace. Gary. I can't even explain it. That's what the Bible talks about. Peace that surpasses all understanding."

Billion Souls Vision

Declaration to God

"I told God, I finally got to a point where I was like, okay, God, the devil's playing games and he's lost. He's a loser... I don't want a million. I want a billion souls for your kingdom."

Strategy: "Now there's 300 million people in America... But if I go to every continent and get 300 million people, then I have a billion souls."

Faith statement: "However, whatever strategy we need, the Holy Spirit will give it to us. Because the Holy Spirit has never lost a battle."

Revival Documentation Vision

Changing the World

Brenda: "We want to change the world. We want to change the world. We want to change the world."

Gary: "Revive."

Technology Advantage

"The way that revival was done then is going to be different. The way this revival, like, you know, right now we have access to tech. We have access to so many ways to get people to see these."

Unknown miracles: "Most people don't know that you can get healed from stage four cancer... with laying on of hands and with your faith."

Greater Works Promise

Gary: "Didn't Jesus say you will do greater things?"

Brenda: "Greater things than this will you do because I go to my Father."

Eternity Perspective

Cynthia's Teaching

"She said, mom, this is just a dot compared to eternity... He put a little, like a period. And then he put a line, a long line, and he said, you see this? This is you. 80 to 120 years... Do you see this long line? This long line is eternity."

Urgency for Souls

"You have to think about that. You can't think about, oh, this is 80 to 100 years. I'm just gonna do me. But then what happens after you do you?"

Final Vision Statement

Gary: "So we're going to show people the fullness of the faith that includes the signs, wonders and miracles. Healings."

Brenda: "We have all it takes. If you look at the great revivals like Azusa, all they needed was faith and prayer."

Impact calculation: "How many people, how many lives later got to know Jesus because of the Azusa revival?"

Current opportunity: "Even there are revivals happening or even there are miracles happening that most people don't know about."

Wrong church experience: "People are just listening to motivational speeches, going to church after church, trying to get the high. And after the high, they go home and you're still broke, busted and disgusted. That's not what God wants for us."

Historical Record

Gary concludes: "I appreciate you finding the time here. This is really amazing historical record."

Brenda: "It's actually a pleasure. It's a pleasure. And knowing you has been a blessing. So I do know there's a lot that God's doing, so let's continue listening to the Holy Spirit."

Key Themes

1. Spiritual Journey: From hardcore Pentecostal upbringing through wilderness years to profound awakening
2. Prophetic Development: Dreams and visions starting at age 22, culminating in 2023 rapture vision
3. Faith Healing: 15 years without medication through supernatural healing and faith
4. Prosperity Theology: Understanding true biblical prosperity versus corrupted "ATM God" message
5. Evangelism Calling: Modern Susanna/Joanna model of financing ministry
6. Spiritual Warfare: General-level demonic opposition confirming millions-impact calling
7. Billion Souls Vision: Strategic faith declaration for global revival impact
8. Technology Integration: Using modern tools to document and spread revival
9. Divine Orchestration: Holy Spirit revealing Gary's name and orchestrating connection
10. Revival Documentation: Vision to show the world signs, wonders, and miracles happening today

This interview represents a comprehensive spiritual testimony and strategic vision session, revealing the divine orchestration behind the Gary-Brenda partnership for global revival documentation and the depth of Brenda's calling as an evangelist and ministry financier in the pattern of the women who supported Jesus's ministry.