Roger Helland

Since getting saved on the heels of the Jesus Movement, Roger Helland has spent his life seeking to know God more, praying for revival and discipling believers for spiritual and missional renewal. As former district minister for the Baptist General Conference in Alberta, the current prayer ambassador for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and author of seven books, Roger has plenty of experience and insight to share in today’s interview. We’re talking about Newport Beach’s renowned chili restaurant, a longstanding struggle with anxiety, hosting God’s presence in our private and public lives, and more.

QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT

There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?

In mid-September 2023, my wife and I sat at an outdoor round table under an umbrella and blue sky on a warm, beautiful day. We were at the world-famous Charlie’s Chili restaurant near the pier at Newport Beach, California.

We enjoyed their classic chili, garden salad and cornbread slathered with honey butter as I guzzled a cold pint of IPA. It was a highlight of our 10-day excursion back to Southern California, where I grew up about 20 miles east of Los Angeles.

We chose Charlie’s Chili for lunch as our culminating respite after walking and bicycling along the boardwalk at Newport, the last of our invigorating outings in Pirates Cove in Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach, and Santa Monica.

I grew up where Southern California beaches, palm trees, Mexican food, Dodgers baseball and exhilarating sun, sand and surf marked my soul for life. I eventually landed in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, where we (my wife, three children, and I) lived for 22 glorious years. It’s a resort area situated on Lake Okanagan, a recreational area of pristine beauty with hot summer sun, gleaming winter powder and skiing at Big White Ski Resort, world-class vineyards, and luscious cherry, apple, and peach orchards. It’s a sort of Southern California paradise that offers everything in the natural that God offers in the supernatural by his empowering and exhilarating presence — a Bethel, a “house of God.” I now live near Calgary, Alberta, close to the Rocky Mountains — full of beauty and bounty.

Okanagan Lake, British Columbia, Canada — Brayden Prato; Unsplash

QUESTION #2: REVEAL

We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?

I love going to the beach in Southern California or to a park at Lake Okanagan in Kelowna, B.C., where I can absorb the radiation of the sun and relax, unwind, and banish built-up anxiety. Feeling the summer breeze, smelling the ocean or park and sitting on my low-rider chair enables me to do nothing and be nothing.

I also love to go powder skiing up at Big White Ski Resort in Kelowna, B.C., or Lake Louise Ski Resort in Alberta. The cold alpine air mixed with the silky smooth powder up to my knees as I head down through glades and bowls creates in me a sense of exhilarating freedom and flow, which rejuvenates both soul and body.

I also love attending really good music concerts, musicals and dinner theaters. Rock, country, and pop music along with dance, acting and choreography enamor me and draw me into a sacred space of wonder and excitement.

For example, I’ve been to concerts by U2, Taylor Swift, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Santana, Shania Twain, Celine Dion, the Eagles, John Mayer and James Taylor, which were spiritual experiences for me. I’ve attended a “Fiddler on the Roof” live performance, which came from New York City. I was drawn into the movie “La La Land” like no other movie before.

I also love attending Los Angeles Dodgers and Seattle Mariners baseball games. When I observe the elite physical and mental agility of these major league players, the green grass fields, and the open expanse of their stadiums, it makes my heart race with wonder.

Nature, music, the arts and athletics are gifts of God that ignite my emotions and imagination as they also incite me to live robustly.

QUESTION #3: CONFESS

Every superhero has a weakness. Every human too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So, what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?

All my life, I’ve had free-floating anxiety that largely stems from my unstable childhood. Our family moved from city to city and house to house every couple of years. As a result, I felt unanchored and alone to face changes, fears, and insecurities.

My mother was married and divorced three times, my stepdad twice, and my sister (who was eight years older than me) ended up married and divorced five times. In junior high and high school, I gravitated toward the wrong crowd and was drawn into drugs, alcohol, and immorality. I felt isolated in my dysfunctional family, where Jesus Christ was a swear word and where we never attended church, read the Bible, or prayed.

I left high school after grade 11, joined the U.S. Army at age 18, and eventually came to faith while stoned on LSD when one of my high school friends — who had become a Jesus freak during the Jesus Revolution in Southern California — led me to Christ. From there, I eventually served my time in the Army, left Southern California for Bible college in Vancouver, B.C., and then went to seminary in Dallas, Texas.

I was called into pastoral ministry as a defective leader who did not navigate change and conflict very well. I married a Canadian girl from Surrey, B.C., and we had three children together in Kelowna, where I pastored.

All that to say, anxiety continued to be a struggle in my life because I didn’t know how to navigate my weaknesses, changes and challenges. For example, from time to time, I don’t mind a glass or two of wine or beer, but these can become anesthetics for my anxiety if I’m not careful. Instead, I continue to try and apply Philippians 4:6 to my life: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (ESV).

QUESTION #4: FIRE UP

Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?

I’ve spent the majority of my efforts as a pastor, professor, denominational leader, and prayer ambassador seeking to be a catalyst for the spiritual renewal of Christians and churches. I’ve observed how pain, disappointment, hardships, corrupt beliefs and toxic attitudes and actions do a devastating number on people.

Average Christians and churches should enjoy emotional and spiritual freedom and flourishing, healing, harmony, love and transformation by experiencing the manifest presence of God. Sadly, many of them don’t. Revivalist Richard Owen Roberts commented, “The sobering truth is that the greatest hindrance to the growth of Christianity in today’s world is the absence of the manifest presence of God from the church.”

I have a deep and inflamed passion for helping people pursue God’s manifest presence through devotion to prayer, the pursuit of holiness, the filling and fullness of the Spirit, Scripture living and discipleship. I want to help people host God’s presence in their homes, workplaces, churches and communities and devote themselves to kingdom ministry for healing, justice and peace unto revival.

We don’t need to become charismatics or Pentecostals to do these things. As an empowered evangelical, I am committed to both the Spirit and the Scripture. My most recent book, “Pursuing God’s Presence: A Practical Guide for Daily Renewal and Joy,” is the culmination of a lifetime of study and experience that expresses my vision to inspire and instruct readers (and hearers through the audio version) in seeking, experiencing and hosting God’s presence.

In the book, I unpack the meaning and implications of the Hebrew word kavod: the weight of God’s glory, his radiant presence. I know of no other print, Kindle or audiobook that shows how to effectively pursue God’s presence in all of life and leadership: in our personal lives, in our homes, workplaces, churches and communities. I teach these things through biblical and practical teaching, personal stories and illustrations that women and men can apply in their daily lives.

QUESTION #5: BOOST

Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?

In late winter of 2020, I was approaching the end of my 13-year service as a district minister (supervisor) of 29 Baptist churches in Alberta, which was to conclude that summer. About a year before, I began to sense that I was running out of gas and did not have enough in the passion tank to keep going for another four- or five-year term. I gradually, in conversation with my wife, decided that I would not seek another term.

I still had a surplus of passion for prayer, leadership, teaching, working with churches, mentoring and writing, but I had nowhere to go in terms of a position to apply to where I might carry on in those tasks.

One morning, I was praying and reflecting on my future, becoming increasingly uneasy about what was next. At that moment, a spontaneous statement ambled into my mind: “You will be praying for leaders.”

I thought, Oh, I see. Over the years, I’ve learned to pay attention to unsolicited thoughts and ideas, impressions and impulses, and inspirations and nudges. I came to realize they were the energies of God’s Spirit leading me and speaking to me. I have to be “tuned in” to the wavelength of his Spirit only as I daily read, pray Scripture and sit alone and quietly with my coffee in my home office early in the morning before my day begins.

As it turned out, I was asked to lead a weekly one-hour Zoom prayer gathering with leaders across the country through the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada for May 2020. God’s presence was palpable in those meetings. About a month later, I received a three-page proposal from the executive vice president inviting me to become the prayer ambassador for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The role would be to pray with and for their affiliate leaders who represent numerous churches, denominations, ministry organizations and Christian universities and seminaries.

It was as if the stars aligned. I was a pastor, denominational leader, professor, author and prayer leader now invited to “pray for leaders” and also to develop alignments with other prayer leaders and initiatives across the country. I was already doing this, and the urge never waned but rather increased.

That spontaneous thought was God’s presence at work in my mind. I’ve learned that the key to effective prayer in communication and communion with God is to practice the discipline of awareness. I know it’s God when those thoughts, ideas and nudges that come from spontaneous sacred spaces require bursts of Spirit-energized faith and risk-taking on my part. I am not 100% accurate in my discernment, but my batting average is getting better the more familiar I get with how God speaks and leads me according to his Word and ways. Doors open, unplanned opportunities occur and Spirit-activated fruit and impact result.

QUESTION #6: inspire

Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So spill it, which spiritual practice is workin’ best for you right now?

I love ice cream, dark roast Keurig coffee with half and half, Mexican food, powder skiing, Los Angeles Dodgers baseball, all types of engaging music, vibrant worship, inspiring books on spirituality, playing with my grandchildren, titillating sex, sitting at the beach, soaking in the sun, absorbing the pristine beauty of rugged mountains, golden prairies, austere deserts, vast oceans, towering forests, colossal constellations, reading the Bible, teaching, preaching and encountering God’s presence.

That’s quite a list, I know, but they all help to energize, empower and engineer my absolute devotion to my top (and I believe Jesus’ top) spiritual practice of Scripture-fed and Spirit-led prayer.

The first thing I do each morning when I wake up at about 5:30 is read Scripture (usually a paragraph or a chapter depending on the book of the Bible I’m reading through), pray the actual words of that Scripture text, think about it, pray to God and listen for God’s voice in or around me. I also write out my sins, confessions, complaints, needs, requests and reflections in my journal to God and then place myself in his presence in silence and solitude. I remind God that if I draw near to him, he will draw near to me.

During this time with the Lord, I also gulp my dark roast coffee, which I call “Jehovah Java.” As I gaze outside at the dawn, I give thanks for life and breath, health and wealth, family and friends, ministry opportunities, God’s grace and goodness, salvation and the Spirit, answered prayer and other things that come to mind.

Then, as I go about my day, I continue to pray and talk to God (like Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof”) and seek to connect with him deeply in my spirit and emotions. Jesus is my model who stepped away from the busyness of the crowd and spent time alone, often at night or early morning, praying to his Father.

Tim Keller said, “Everywhere God is prayer is.” I see rigorous devotion to prayer among the early church in the Book of Acts and in the apostle Paul’s life, which you can see throughout his epistles. I pray these passages word for word and apply them to myself or to those I’m praying for.

I vary my prayer postures with outstretched arms, kneeling, lying prostrate on my office floor, eyes open, eyes closed, sometimes shouting (outside) or quietly murmuring (inside). I will pray while walking in my neighborhood, standing in line at Costco, driving in my Honda CRV with loud worship music blaring, preparing to meet with people, meeting with others in person or over Zoom, or typing an email, text, Facebook post or blog post.

Like Nehemiah in Nehemiah 2, I direct my inner thoughts and desires, needs and frustrations in faith-filled prayer moment by moment. I pray for people when I meet with them, sometimes even for healing (I carry a little vial of olive oil on my keychain to use for anointing for healing prayer).

Jesus said, “My house [the place of God’s presence] shall be a house of prayer” (see Matthew 21:13). I see myself as a living, breathing, walking, talking house of prayer, a home for God’s manifest presence in my life. Prayer is the oxygen of the soul and the operating system for the spiritual life of communion with the invisible, eternal Creator God.

I’ve prayed all 150 Psalms — one per day for 150 days — as I embraced how they reveal God and permit wrangling and wrestling with God unto worship, wonder and wisdom. I am like what David says in Hebrew: “I am prayer” (see Psalm 109:4).

QUESTION #7: FOCUS

Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources — lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are three resources that have impacted you?

I would recommend anything by Henri J.M. Nouwen. When I was going through a painful and lonely time in my life, his book (which was comprised of journal entries during his own painful journey), “The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom,” soothed my aching soul and comforted my raw emotions.

Another stirring resource is the movie “Fiddler on the Roof,” and it’s even better if you can attend or stream a live theater performance of it. It’s a magnificent older musical that artfully portrays the challenges of an entrenched culture and its long-held but shaky traditions. It’s about a Jewish family whose father, Tevye, a poor milkman with five daughters, suffers under the persecution of communist Russian tyranny that invades a small farming village. It follows his journey as several of his daughters depart from their Jewish traditions, as he wrestles with God, and as he considers the alternatives his daughters present to him. My wife and I left the live performance here in Calgary last year in tears, almost unable to walk from the power of the performances and the deeply moving storyline.

Finally, another resource that gripped my attention a couple of years ago was Christianity Today’s “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.” It’s a podcast series that documents the abusive leadership failures and fallout through senior pastor Mark Driscoll and the toxic culture of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. This podcast rang as an alarm about the potential for “successful” Christian leaders and churches to come up short on holiness, humility and accountability, including leaders like Bill Hybels and Carl Lentz.

Lastly, the best resource for what I call “Spirit-ual servantship” is the Bible.

We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season — and tell us what it’s done for you.

My go-to main resource for on-the-move Bible reading and prayer is the free YouVersion Bible app, which I’ve installed on my iPhone. It contains Bible reading plans, various Bible versions, videos, verses of the day, devotionals, Scripture-based prayers, images and the ability to highlight and post verses online.

QUESTION #8: dream

God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?

In this past year, three experiences have fueled my unquenchable passion for an outpouring of God’s Spirit in revival fires across the globe. First, the Spirit’s outpouring at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky in February 2023 was a remarkable example of a group of Gen Z students pursuing God’s presence in prayer, confession, repentance and holiness.

God visited that campus for over two weeks of packed meetings in Hughes Auditorium, while thousands from all over the world stood in line outside in the cold, waiting to get in. Gen Zers may be the revival generation who desperately want to experience God’s manifest presence. Do it again, Lord, all over the U.S. and Canada, the U.K. and Europe. Oh, Lord!

Second, the movie “Jesus Revolution” was released in the spring of 2023 and portrays the enormous revival among young people in Southern California during the hippie era. This was where Lonnie Frisbee, Chuck Smith and Greg Laurie were instrumental. This film captured my heart as a California boy who was saved on the fringes of that movement.

People might not know that John Wimber and the Vineyard movement also emerged from those early Calvary Chapel church gatherings in Costa Mesa and Loma Linda California. This past September, my wife and I went to Pirates Cove in Corona Del Mar just south of Newport Beach, where all those baptisms occurred back in the early 1970s. Greg Laurie, in partnership with about 280 churches, also baptized 4,500 people in that Pacific Ocean cove in July 2023 as a 50-year celebration of the Jesus Revolution. Do it some more, Lord! All over the world in multiple coves, lakes, ponds, pools, rivers, hot tubs and baptismal tanks!

Third, while my wife and I were in Los Angeles, we ventured out to the Bonnie Brae House at 216 N. Bonnie Brae Street near the 101 Freeway, not far from Filipinotown and Sunset Blvd. As a Pentecostal heritage house, it sits in a very non-descript part of L.A. where God’s presence was so strong. Throngs of people jammed together out front to pray and hear revival preaching. It’s where the original prayer meetings started at the home of Richard and Ruth Asberry, in April 1906. William Seymour and a small group of people prayed for revival, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the gift of unknown languages like that depicted in Acts 2. They were inspired by the Welsh revival of 1904-1905.

After the porch collapsed from the weight of too many people, the meetings moved to 214 Azusa Street, a few miles away in downtown L.A. From there, the Pentecostal movement spread globally in 1906-1909.

When I read and hear about these various reports, I am enlarged with passion for prayer and revival. But I can get disheartened when I don’t see the same magnitude of breakthrough after many decades of praying, reading about revivals, and longing to see God’s kingdom advance in dramatic proportions by his manifest presence. I long to see God’s presence topple the turmoil in U.S. politics, Canadian social discord and unimaginable ravaging from wars in Ukraine, Gaza and other places of desperation, suffering and devastation around the world.

May God’s kingdom come and his will be done in our churches and communities as in heaven. May we not shrink from prevailing and persistent faith-filled prayer in the power of the gospel. In the conclusion of my book, Pursuing God’s Presence, I aim to incite your passion so you can walk in prevailing, presence-centered prayer and repentance for renewal to revival (see Psalm 85:6-9).

Many revivals throughout history were preceded by years of persistent prayer. Some people reportedly prayed for revival for hours each day.

Habakkuk, too, offered a bold prayer of his own: “God, I’ve heard what our ancestors say about you, and I’m stopped in my tracks, down on my knees. Do among us what you did among them. Work among us as you worked among them. And as you bring judgment, as you surely must, remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2, MSG).

What could happen if we all prayed like this? Maybe you don’t feel equipped or called to spend hours every day in prayer. Consider starting with just five minutes. You may be surprised at how God can use and lead you in prayer.