George Kouri - Spiritual Son of Ern Baxter!

It has always been my hope to eventually meet men who knew Ern Baxter well and be able to learn from them and draw on what Ern ministered to their lives. This is because my contact with Ern was extremely limited. I really only remember his last visit to the United Kingdom when he spoke at our church in Dunstable in 1991.

Therefore it was extremely exciting to me to get the following message from Mark - the son of George Kouri. He wrote;

"My father, George Kouri, was one of Ern Baxter's sons in the Gospel. I grew up under Ern's teaching in Southern California. I am now helping launch an online seminary (http://www.atsvirtual.org), which is well founded on Ern's teaching. My father wants to meet you in May on his way to South Africa. Can we connect? You can find my father's and my contact details at the URL above. Best regards, Mark Kouri".

Ern Baxter said of George; "George Kouri's teaching on the kingdom is the best I have ever seen". His website is extremely informative and thrilling. Here is some biographical information on him;

"From 1972 to 1985 he labored in Southern California, pioneering an apostolic and prophetic church in the San Diego area. Simultaneously, he labored extensively in India training indigenous leaders in apostolic and prophetic ministry. During that period and until Ern Baxter’s death, Brother Kouri served as a special “Timothy” or apostolic deputy to Brother Baxter.

Brother Kouri is widely respected as an “apostolic-father” in the body of Christ. He has traveled extensively, speaking in conferences and leadership seminars, both nationally and internationally. He combines a vast revelatory knowledge of the Scriptures, Biblical theology and Church history with a special sensitivity to the Holy Spirit gained through many decades of practical hands-on experience in evangelism, apostolic church planting and missions, structuring and ordering of church life, and leadership training. He is passionately committed to the restoration of the Church’s apostolic and prophetic foundations, its growth and maturation, and to seeing nations brought under the spiritual government of the Kingdom of God.

Brother Kouri is founder and Senior Apostle of Apostolic Ministries International, an apostolic and prophetic network of ministers and churches in the United States and abroad. He is also one of the founders and the Presiding Apostle of the Communion of Apostolic Churches, an international communion of apostolic and prophetic networks of ministers and churches committed to working together to recover authentic apostolic Christianity and to fulfill the great commission".

He does run a blog which can be found here. Obviously due to huge time constraints he can't write regularly on it, but what he has written is outstanding Kingdom stuff. The most exciting thing to me is that he clearly is a true apostle in terms of having a true father's heart. Here is his vision for raising up new leaders;

"The biggest news in our ministry is that in January of 2007 several senior brothers and I will launch the Apostles Theological Seminary (“online”), part of a larger leadership training strategy to raise a radical new generation of global leaders for the 21st century Church. ATS is the culmination of more than fifteen years of diligent labor in the Spirit and the Word, not only by some of my brothers and me, but also by those who have preceded us (like my father in the Lord, Brother Ern Baxter)".

I have been very impacted by a prophecy that Greg Haslam gave at the Brighton Leadership Conferene 2003 about a "crucible" which I hope to post soon on the "Spirit of God!" blog. In the prophecy he spoke about the fact that there will be an adding of other apostolic movements into the work of the Spirit that is going on in Newfrontiers. This "coming together" in the crucible work of the Holy Spirit will produce fine metals of strength and beauty. Maybe this is an apostolic movement to watch and keep a close eye on! I am really hoping to speak more with Mark in the coming days.