“Quite frankly,” said Olford later, “his preaching was very ordi-
nary. Neither his homiletics nor his theology nor his particular
approach to Welsh people made much of an impact. The Welsh are
masters of preaching, and they expect hard, long sermons with a
couple of hours of solid exposition. Billy was giving brief little mes-
sages. They listened, but it wasn’t their kind of preaching.” The
crowd was small, passive, and to Billy’s invitation, unresponsive.
The next day Olford continued the instruction, telling Billy
that he “must be broken” like the apostle Paul, letting God turn
him inside out.
“I gave him my testimony of how God completely turned my
life inside out—an experience of the Holy Spirit in his fullness and
anointing,” said Olford. “As I talked, and I can see him now, those
marvelous eyes glistened with tears, and he said, ‘Stephen, I see it.
That’s what I want. That’s what I need in my life.’” Olford sug-
gested they “pray this through,” and both men knelt on the floor.
“I can still hear Billy pouring out his heart in a prayer of total
dedication to the Lord,” said Olford. “Finally, he said, ‘My heart
is so flooded with the Holy Spirit!’ and we went from praying to
praising. We were laughing and praising God, and Billy was walk-
ing back and forth across the room, crying out, ‘I have it! I’m
filled. This is a turning point in my life.’ And he was a new man.”
As Billy recalls the experience years later, “I was beginning to
understand that Jesus himself was our victory, through the Holy
Spirit’s power.”
That night, when Billy preached, “for reasons known to God
alone, the place which was only moderately filled the night before
was packed to the doors,” said Olford. “As Billy rose to speak, he
was a man absolutely anointed.”
Members of the audience came forward to pray even before
Billy gave an invitation. At the end of the sermon, practically the
entire crowd rushed forward.
“My own heart was so moved by Billy’s authority and strength
that I could hardly drive home,” Olford remembers. “When I
came in the door, my father looked at my face and said, ‘What on
earth happened?’ I sat down at the kitchen table and said, ‘Dad,
Igniting!