PLATTSBURGH — While in the U.S. Navy, Carlos Sarmiento was shown the Lord by a shipmate.
He received Christ into his life in July 1981.
"From there, I had a very strong passion, hunger, to understand God's word," said Sarmiento, head director of the Orlando House of Prayer in Ocoee, Fla. At 6:30 p.m. today, he will speak at the Champlain Valley Christian Center in Plattsburgh.
"I did many, many years of studying from four to eight hours a day, five days a week. I did that three years while I was in the military. I would just study in my free time and read commentaries, books and take correspondence courses," he said.
On the USS Kidd, DDG 993, he became the ship's lay spiritual leader. Stationed in Norfolk, Va., the New Jersey native deployed on cruises to the North Atlantic, Caribbean, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. In 1982, God called him to full-time ministry; and in 1984, he got out of the Navy.
Ever since he took a family vacation to Florida, he vowed to live there one day.
"Something gripped me about Florida. In September 1984, I moved to the Palm Coast, 30 minutes north of Daytona Beach. Someone had told me about a pastor in Orlando, Benny Hinn. God used him for signs, wonders and miracles. Healing, I didn't know that still existed. I thought it was only in the Bible," Sarmiento said.
He went to one of Hinn's services.
"He (Hinn) did not know me. I didn't know him. It was a 3,000 member church. They seated me two rows back, dead center from where the pulpit was. I was in the aisle seat. In the middle of the preaching, he stopped and looked at me. He said, 'Young man, I don't know who you are, but I see God's calling and anointing on your life. God is going to use you.' Was I freaked out?"
Sarmiento calls Hinn a very charismatic figure.
"A lot of negative stuff has been written about him. He's a really sincere man, and he really loves the Lord. I started attending the church when I could."
At that time, Sarmiento and his cousin owned a construction cleanup company. Whenever he could, he drove the 70 miles to Orlando from Palm Coast. Eventually, Hinn asked him to go to a healing service in Bradenton, Fla.
After that service, Hinn pulled him aside and said he thought Sarmiento could be one of his pastors one day.
He served as youth pastor from 1986 until 1995. He also oversaw the Evangelism Department and traveled with Hinn's Healing Crusade Team.
"He held monthly crusades all over America in stadiums with 15,000 or 20,000 people. In 1995, I left him. I was released from the church and started my own ministry, Reviving This Generation Ministry."
Sarmiento was a full-time evangelist, traveling throughout Russia, the Caribbean, South America and the United States. He led healing and revival services, youth conferences and Sunday morning worship services for five years. He was traveling three weeks out of every month.
"Then, in the end of 1999, I knew the Lord wanted me to start a church," Sarmiento said.
The Living Waters Church was born in April 2000 in Ocoee. In 2005, that vision expanded to the Orlando House of Prayer.
"We have 120 hours of prayer every week around the clock," Sarmiento said. "Our vision is to have 168 hours, the equivalent of 24 hours, seven days a week. That's nonstop, continual worship, praise music and continual prayer."
He is in the North Country to assist the Champlain Valley Christian Center with their prayer project.
"I help other Houses of Prayer just getting started to strengthen them and encourage the leadership of the church," Sarmiento said.
Tonight, he is speaking on "The Mantle of End Time Forerunner," a message that explains why night and day prayer is so necessary in the cities of the Earth today.
On Saturday, Sarmiento will participate in a roundtable discussion with leaders of the Plattsburgh House of Prayer.
"Sunday morning, I will be teaching and preaching on why the Holy Spirit is emphasizing night and day prayer today."
Email Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
