Henry Blackaby (1935 – 2024)

Who Was He?

Henry Thomas Blackaby was born on 15 April 1935 in Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada. H e earned his bachelor’s degree in history and English from the University of British Columbia and his theological degrees from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California. He served as a music director, education director, and pastor in California before answering a very specific call that changed his life.

In 1970, a Canadian pastor approached Blackaby with a challenge: “The only hope for Canada is if Canadian pastors come back home.” Blackaby heard this as a word from God. He and his wife Marilynn moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to pastor Faith Baptist Church — a tiny, dying congregation of ten people.

What happened over the next twelve years was nothing short of miraculous. The church grew dramatically, planted thirty-eight daughter churches and mission posts, and became the epicentre of the remarkable Saskatoon Revival of 1971 — a city-wide awakening that transformed entire denominations. During those years, Blackaby developed the principles that would become Experiencing God.

His book Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, co-written with his son Richard and Claude King in 1990, has sold over seven million copies and been translated into more than forty-five languages. It has been described as one of the most influential Christian books of the twentieth century. Blackaby went on to serve the Southern Baptist Convention's Home Mission Board as Director of Prayer and Spiritual Awakening, travelling the world to call the Church back to God. He died on 10 February 2024 at the age of 88.

A Great Answer to Prayer Before the Saskatoon Revival of 1971 broke out, Henry Blackaby and a group of Saskatoon pastors had been meeting together every week for two years, praying specifically for God to send revival to their city. They had no guarantee that anything would happen. But they prayed and they waited.

On 13 October 1971, twin evangelists Ralph and Lou Sutera arrived for what was planned as a week-and-a-half of meetings at Ebenezer Baptist Church. But God had different plans. Within days, the meetings could not be contained. The congregation moved to a larger church, and that was overflowed in two nights. They moved to the largest church in the city — 1,600 seats — and ran double services nightly. Finally, the Saskatoon Centennial Auditorium was rented, with 2,400 seats, and still it was full.

Entire denominations were transformed. The Christian Missionary and Alliance denomination reported a one hundred percent increase in conversions in that first year. Baptised church members discovered they had never been truly born again. Families were reconciled. Debts were paid. Enemies were forgiven. Blackaby said that the entire DNA of his life was changed during the revival — and the principles he lived through those days became the message he spent the rest of his life proclaiming to the world.

Key Scriptures Jeremiah 29:13 — “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.”

John 14:21 — “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.

And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Isaiah 55:8 – 9 — “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

His Words on Prayer “Prayer is designed to adjust you to God's will, not to adjust God to your will.”

“All revival begins, and continues, in the prayer meeting. In times of revival, thousands may be found on their knees for hours, lifting up their heartfelt cries, with thanksgiving, to heaven.”

“Prayer is a relationship, not a religious activity.”

“When God answers your prayer, He receives the glory, your faith is increased, and you have a fresh experience of Hi s love.”

“Prayerless leaders are like ship captains without compasses; they can make their best guess at which direction to go, but they have no assurance they are heading the right way. Prayer keeps leaders focused on the one absolutely consistent factor in life — God.”

Prayer and the Word of God “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience.”

“When you want to know how God wants you to reach your city, or be involved in His work, ask Him. His promise is to always answer when we pray according to His will.”

Prayer and the Holy Spirit “God speaks by the Holy Spiri t through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.”

“Prayer is not solely about making requests, but about aligning our desires with God's plans for us. The Spirit prompts us to seek out what God has in store.”

“Revival is a divinely initiated work in which God's people pray, repent of their sin, and return to a holy, Spirit-filled, obedient, love- relationship with God.”