KENNETH W. DRAUGHON, D.MIN.

Network Superintendent

ds@amnag.org

We enter the Easter Season knowing the reason for the season. God sent His “only bego:en” Son to mankind to save us from damna?on. The salva?on of mankind is the MAIN FOCUS of God’s plan. Beginning in crea?on, through the birth of the Church, and con?nuing today, it remains clear that the fall and lostness of humankind does not thwart God’s plan to have a rela?onship with His crea?on. His redemp?ve plan, which begins in Genesis 3, marches throughout ?me and remains the primary duty of His Church today. This redemp?ve plan is the missio Dei, and His mission is the Church’s mission, as his redeemed people. This mission calls people to repentance, conversion, and obedience, and it offers renewal to all churches.

Obeying this mission provides for a deeper understanding of the gospel, which frees those held cap?ve by the world. The New Testament Church understood the command to share this good news with anyone who needed it, and they obeyed Jesus when He told them to wait for the Spirit, who would clothe them “with power from on high” (Luke 24:49, NIV). The Spirit’s empowerment would equip the Apostle Paul and His companions, as well as countless other disciples, to share the good news in cultures near and far. This paradigm, in which the Holy Spirit fills believers with power to be His witnesses, remains the central desire of God for every congrega?on and every believer for fulfilling the mandate of the Great Commission.

Henry Martyn rightly notes that the Church’s drive to engage in sharing the gospel comes from one’s deep rela?onship to God: Kenneth O. Gangel said, “The Spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions, and the nearer we get to Him the more intensely missionary we must become.”

In bringing the good news to the lost, Jesus engaged the culture as He walked the countryside in and around Galilee and Jerusalem. He taught His disciples how to engage culture as He ministered in various situa?ons while visi?ng villages and communi?es (Ma: 4:19). A_er His resurrec?on, Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the gospel and promised His presence in their lives (Ma: 28:19-20). A short ?me later, before His ascension, Jesus again commands His disciples to preach the gospel to all na?ons. Lee Ho Noh describes the evolu?on of Jesus’s outreach in producing disciples to preach the gospel: “Jesus first called people to fulfill the will of God on earth. Then He preached God’s word and trained people in evangelism, and the trained people became evangelists.” God sent His Son to share His redemp?ve grace, and now the Church is to share redemp?ve love with every genera?on and every culture.

We need to engage our communi?es with the Gospel—this is not an op?on for the church; it’s a command. You can’t please Jesus without engaging your culture with the Gospel. The command hasn’t changed—the methods may have. The “back to basics” process is doing as they did in the New Testament—pray un?l God reveals the needed strategy and then embrace it. This genera?on “seems” turned off to the church, but even if they are, the fact remains they need the Gospel message, and we are the messengers. We will do as Isaiah suggests, “I have set my face like flint,” and have an unwavering determina?on to persevere in our assignment to reach our environment.

MICHAEL D. SHARP, D.MIN.

NETWORK SECRETARY-TREASURER

msharp@amnag.org

WE CANNOT FORCE A TRUE REVIVAL, BUT WE CAN PREPARE FOR ONE

For Chris?ans “revival” has come to mean a season or event when the Holy Spirit brings new life to his people or brings many to first ?me faith in Jesus Christ. In Scripture and the history of the God’s People, repentance is a hallmark of genuine revival. For non-believers it is repentance from sins of a life?me, a changing of the mind about sin, self, and God, that turns away from sin and turns to God. For lukewarm believers it is repentance from sins “minor,” the sins of a careless, uncommi:ed heart, idolatry of people or things, a loss of first love for Jesus, a waning of the Spirit’s presence in our lives. When God powerfully visits his people, we suddenly feel deep convic?on over these things.

In Scripture the Spirit some?mes come in power to God’s people in response to their cries for help, prayers which were themselves prompted by God’s word that cut their hearts, making them aware of lukewarmness or sins. God first made his people aware of their backsliding, promp?ng them to cry out for him, and then came with great power to cleanse, fill, and renew. Some?mes God sovereignly brings his people to prayer before renewal.

However, some?mes God’s visita?on is completely unexpected. Suddenly, from heaven, there is an outpouring of the wonderful rain of God’s presence, the blowing of the wind of his Spirit. The accounts of these sudden but sustained renewals, renewals that transformed lives, communi?es, and genera?ons are too many to list. The Jesus Movement - the most far-reaching revival of my life?me - was exactly this kind of unexpected inbreaking of God’s kingdom. It was not preceded by any great season of prayer. Yet, this revival brought the greatest harvest of unchurched people and had the deepest, most far-reaching impact on the Church of any revival in the past 100 years. God’s manner of visi?ng his people, and their manner of responding to him, vary greatly from one season of renewal to the next. There are no formulas, no confessions, no marke?ng, no methods, no amount of human energy that can create a genuine outpouring of the Spirit. We cannot earn revival by our prayer or fas?ng or longing. We cannot demand a kind of revival familiar to us. We cannot demand revival at all! We cannot force God to visit us. God is sovereign and he moves how and where and when and upon whomever he wills. For 116 years millions more people have fasted and prayed for another Azusa than did so before Azusa, yet God has not seen fit to send another Azusa.

It is altogether good to long for more of God’s presence, to consecrate more of our selves to God, to rid ourselves of human defini?ons of revival. It is altogether wrong to lust a_er the explosive emo?onal catharsis, or the supernatural phenomenon, or the numerical growth that might accompany a revival. God does not visit his people to validate our sectarian theology, or do magic tricks for us, or elevate our sense of significance. God does not visit a specific people in a specific way as a call to spiritually elite strangers to come ramp up the renewal with anointed arrogance and emo?onal manipula?on. God calls hungry hearts to join in humbling themselves, repen?ng, and lelng God move as he wills.

The surest way to experience personal revival is to read the word, pray, and obey. Our God is revealed in his word, he is encountered in faithful repentant prayer, and his blessing rests on obedience. That obedience will always include sharing the truth and love of Jesus with everyone around us, from family to friends to strangers we encounter in God’s divine appointments. All biblical images of the Spirit are images of ac?on: Water falling and flowing but never standing, oil being poured or burning but never simply bo:led up, a dove in flight but never simply s?ll, a wind or breath but never air at rest. We commune with God that he might communicate himself to us, and through us flow in new life to everyone around us, bringing unbelievers to faith in Jesus, and bringing believers closer to God than before. The Holy Spirit comes to flow, not to be stored. Personal renewal can become communal renewal that spreads outward in ever-widening waves of God’s libera?ng life-giving presence in the world. That is renewal. That is revival.

The Spirit blows where he wills. We can never know from where he has come, where he is going, or what that will look like. We can only know that our sovereign, almighty, compassionate God will come to us! He will cleanse us, renew us, heal us, and we should long for that every day as we read, pray, and obey. I do! I do not pray that God would revive or “save” my na?on-state, the USA. I don’t see the Church doing that in Scripture or in the genuine revivals of church history. But, I DO pray for, and have long believed that we will see, an unprecedented renewal and harvest of souls in this land in my lifetime. O, Sovereign God, whatever it takes, make it so!

David Strahan

dstrahan@amnag org

Alabama Ministry Network

Missions Service

Tuesday, April 25, at 9:00 am

Missions Banquet

Monday, April 24, at 5:00 pm

$25.00 per person

Guest

MAKE PLANS NOW TO JOIN US!

DIRECTOR: CYNDI DRAUGHON

Over 300 ladies joined us for GCWC at Celebration Church in Fairhope. Thank you to everyone who attended, and especially to Pastors Johnny and April Hunt for welcoming us to Celebration Church. Pastor Rese Moore did an incredible join inspiring women with the Word of God. She is a dear friend and a warrior for the Kingdom!