Businessman-Turned-Evangelist Believes Revival Is Coming to U.S.

David Turner has seen the deaf receive their hearing and the blind gain their sight at crusades across India, Mexico and Malaysia. But the Phoenix-based businessman-turned evangelist believes a revival of miracles will soon hit the U.S.

“I believe God is about to do an explosion in America,” said Turner, who has seen thousands healed during large-scale crusades he led in India with evangelist Harry Gomes. “We will start seeing [healings and miracles] even with stadiums of people.”

Turner is expecting the miracles to begin this week, when he hosts the Harvest America Healing Explosion at the 14,000-seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. More than 120 churches across the city will participate in the three-day event, which begins Friday and includes a food giveaway for needy families.

Turner expects at least 20,000 people to participate during the three days. He believes hundreds will be saved, plugged into a church and healed.

“The Holy Spirit showed me that revival won’t come with just miracles, signs and wonders,” Turner said. “The church has to come together and pray, and then that with the miracles, signs and wonders will spark a revival. And that, I believe, will be the ultimate thing that comes out of this. We’re going to start to see the beginning of a revival.”

Turner-who owns Southwest Commodities, a suburban Phoenix importer of nuts and dried fruits, and Suntree, a California-based plant that packages peanuts, trail mix and other products-began ministering internationally in 2003 after experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit.

Although he had been a Christian for 15 years, Turner said he felt as if he had been hooked up to an electric current when a charismatic pastor prayed for him. The pastor told him he would not only see miracles but also minister in healing himself.

Soon after, Turner was healed of a compressed disc that had cost him the use of his left arm and was later healed of torn knee ligaments. That touched off a desire to pray for others, and Turner said dozens have been healed of cancer, stomach problems, blindness and other illnesses.

He met Gomes in the early 2000s, and the Indian pastor began mentoring Turner in the healing ministry. Since then Turner has partnered with Gomes to lead healing crusades across India and to establish an orphanage there.

In the U.S., Turner said the troubled economy has made many Americans desperate for answers and more open to evangelism. “People need hope, and the problem is they’ve been looking in all the wrong places for it,” Turner said. “We have their answer, which is Jesus. The problem is, we have to, as a church, walk in the power of God and let the people see it. Then there’s no question; they want it.”

Turner is financing the healing crusade himself, paying roughly $250,000 so far. Food banks are providing most of the food being distributed each night of the crusade.

“What I like about him, he’s just not promoting [himself],” said David Friend, pastor of Scottsdale First Assembly, the church Turner attends and a participant in the crusade this week. “He just knows the Spirit of God is going to move.

“I believe the same thing. Why can’t revival start in America? Why can’t we see the same thing we’ve seen around the world? This meeting is being approached with the expectation that God is going to move.”

Turner said his primary goal is to encourage people to believe God. “Jesus does not have geographic and financial boundaries,” he said. “He’ll go anywhere there’s faith. The faith is waning here in America, but … Rom. 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So when you speak the Word, the Word, the Word, people’s faith rises and the Word comes and heals the people.”