The Holy Spirit- So What’s the Big Deal?

The young man who had grown up in a Pentecostal fellowship, asked his pastor this question: “The Holy Spirit- so what’s the big deal”?
I was about eight or nine years old when God touched my heart in a service at Boys and Girls Camp in such a way that I would never be the same again. Evangelist Lynfield Crowder presented the need for every person to be filled with the Spirit, and I decided that included me. I was serious that night about inviting the Holy Spirit to fill me with His power, and the Holy Spirit was serious about touching my young life. Something very powerful happened that night almost 60 years ago.Throughout my ministry when I would become discouraged and ready to quit or when faced with temptation almost too strong to resist, my mind would go back to that night when as a boy I had my first personal one-on-one encounter with the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit, the Church was like a lion with no teeth, a growl but no bite.
I currently have in my library well over one hundred excellent books on leadership because I believe ‘the sun rises and sets on good leadership.’ But if I am not careful, I tend to rely on leadership more than renewing my relationship with the Holy Spirit whom Jesus declared will “guide (or lead) me into all truth” (John 16:13). With so many sophisticated and scientific methods of leadership presented today, do we still need the Holy Spirit?
Jerry Cook stated it this way: “It is interesting to me that whenever the Church through the centuries went boldly in her own strength and ingenious plans, instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to come to her, she either cowed in fear behind the doors of her institutions, or joined the power structures of the fallen world. Without the Holy Spirit the Church was like a lion with no teeth, a growl but no bite.”
Perhaps the young man who wondered what the big deal is with the Holy Spirit had not personally experienced the power of Pentecost or seen true Pentecost in action. One thing is for sure- if the Holy Spirit is not clearly visible when the Church gathers, He will be invisible when the Church disperses throughout the market place!
Heres a question: If the Holy Spirit were to back out of any one of my present endeavors, would that endeavor still be left standing?