Journal of Evangelism and Missions

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SPRING 2009

MID-AMERICA BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

EVANGELISM JOURNAL OF EV ANGELISM & MISSIONS

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage PAI D Memphis, TN Permit No. 831

J • E • M

Journal of Evangelism & Missions Volume 8 • Spring 2009

INSIDE

VOLUME V OLUME 8

• Revival and Awakening by Richard Owen Roberts ...3 • The Jesus Movement by Mike McGinnis ...23 • Manley Beasley, Man of Faith, Instrument of Revival by Ron Owens ...47

Revival & Spiritual & Spiritual Awakening

Published annually by Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, Germantown, Tennessee, and Schenectady, New York, Michael R. Spradlin, President.

Journal Committee Steve Wilkes, Editor Mike Haggard, Assistant Editor Mike Morris, Book Review Editor and Assistant Editor Meredith Tipton, Copy Editor Betty Bailey, Layout and Design Journal of Evangelism and Missions is published in the spring of each year at MidAmerica Baptist Theological Seminary, 2095 Appling Rd., Cordova, Tennessee 38018 Correspondence concerning articles and editorial policy should be addressed to the editor. Comments concerning book reviews should be directed to the book review editor.

Change of address and requests for subscriptions should be sent to the Communications Office. Manuscripts for consideration should be sent to the editor. Writers are expected not to question or contradict the doctrinal statement of the Seminary.

The publication of comments, opinions, or advertising herein does not necessarily suggest agreement or endorsement by Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, the editorial staff, or the Trustees of the Seminary.

Subscription Rates: One year $10; Two years $18; Three years $24. Rates are for mailing to domestic addresses. International rates will vary. Address all subscription correspondence to: JEM, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, P. O. Box 2350, Cordova, TN 38088-2350 © 2008 Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary ISSN: 1543-4680

“Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary is a school whose primary purpose is to provide graduate theological training for effective service in church-related and missions vocations through its main campus and designated branch campuses. Other levels of training are also offered.”

Table of Contents

1. Revival! by Steve Wilkes 3. Revival and Awakening by Richard Owen Roberts 23. The Jesus Movement by Mike McGinnis 33. Reflections on Revival by Wayne Marshall 47. Manley Beasley, Man of Faith, Instrument of Revival by Ron Owens 55. The Evidence of Real Revival by Wade Akins 61. An Analysis of the Three Great Revivals in Korea by Mike Morris 69. Spiritual Warfare in Times of Revival: A Case of the Daloa Baptist Revival by Ebele Adioye 81. The Effects of Hurricanes on Church Planting in Louisiana

by Larry Badon 93. A Plea to Reconsider Theological Education Engagement in Historic Mission Fields by David Allen Bledsoe 103. Praying for Missionaries by Stan May 113. Renewing the Vision by Gordon Fort 121. Report Hour by Stan May 125. Book Reviews

From the Editor

by Steve Wilkes

Revival! The very thought of revival makes my mind and spirit soar. Nothing could happen in the Kingdom of God that would be more exciting, more productive, and more long-lasting than genuine revival in evangelical churches today.

I first saw genuine revival in 1967, at the very beginning of the Jesus Movement. It happened at youth retreat in Panama City, Florida. For years after this, revival was my passion. I read about revival, preached about revival, prayed for revival, and sought revival in every way I could understand.

I actually had the joy of seeing revival in a local church during my last full-time pastorate in Maumelle, Arkansas.

In 1981, four of us began to pray regularly that God would send revival to our small mission church. We prayed weekly, and I had never been in prayer meetings like that. All four of us were really committed to seeing revival at our church. About six months after we started praying,

the showers of revival began to fall in our services and on our church. It really was atmospheric–the powerful presence of God was wonderful in our church. On Sunday nights, we shared every week about what God was doing in our lives. When revival came, in August of 1981, these times of sharing came alive–and sometimes even prevented me from preaching. People were saved because of these times of sharing.

Two people from my family gave their lives to Jesus on a trip to our home in Arkansas. They had come from Alabama, and God worked in their hearts while they were part of our church fellowship and part of our testimony meetings on Sunday nights.

The season of revival lasted off and on for two years and was 1

particularly powerful for two three-or-four-month periods. Not only were Christians quickened and reinvigorated to serve Christ, evangelism broke out, and our church doubled and doubled again. God blessed us by sending revival.

Today, we need revival in our churches as much as any other time that I have known. I have wondered if God will use the current financial crisis or some other crisis to bring us to our knees, so that we will repent and seek God in revival I have had the joy of traveling a good bit, and I have been in many churches. In almost every church where I have been around the world, I have sensed a need for revival there also.

This is not just an American need. The world’s churches need revival. One small new church in Kazakhstan, in 1995, seemed to have the holy touch of God upon it. Out of my team of ten, one couple wept through the service we attended. Today, they are full-time missionaries with the IMB. God used the atmosphere of revival to quicken their hearts for missions.

Let’s pray, seek God, keep our hearts holy before Him, and in the meantime, let’s not neglect

the Great Commission. In 1992, I began to go to the nations. I have helped take the gospel to several places and helped start new churches. It seemed, after I did that, that my passion for revival leveled off or even abated.

My passion for the world and for souls around the world seemed to take its place. Today, we need both–world evangelization and revival.

It was my joy to study with J. Edwin Orr at Fuller Seminary, in Pasadena, California. Dr. Orr may have been the greatest historian ever of revival and awakening. I had an intensive two-week course with him in the 1980s, and he gave me the understanding that revival is for Christians, and awakening is for the community and for those who are not Christians. I like his designation. May the Lord choose to send wonderful, earth-shattering, world-wide revival and awakening to our churches and communities.

In these pages you will find good articles from wonderful people as they describe revival and its effects in their lives and churches. Read with a prayerful spirit that God would send awakening to this generation. He can do anything!

Steve Wilkes is Professor of Missions at MABTS in Memphis, TN. He has taught church growth, church planting, spiritual formations, etc. at MidAmerica for 23 years. He has served on several church staffs and pastored five churches. Steve is President and co-founder of World-Wide Church Planters, an organization that trains nationals around the world to start new churches. To date WWCP has helped start nearly 400 new churches.

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Revival and Awakening

by Richard Owen Roberts

We live during a grievous time in human history.

Moral and spiritual decay are all around us and growing rapidly.

The Christian Church, once a powerful force for good in the nation, now seems crippled and unable to effectively help. Surely something is wrong!

Previous generations experienced dark times also but knew how to respond. When Timothy Dwight became president at Yale College in the late 18th century, he found that unbelief and infidelity had thoroughly permeated the campus. A careful investigation revealed that there were only a few believers in the entire student body. He was convinced that something must be done.

He required regular attendance at chapel. There he preached earnestly on the biblical doctrine of God. By the end of the first school year, a powerful revival

had gripped the school. Within a few months almost the entire student body had been converted to Christ. Soon spiritual awakening spread throughout much of the land.

Our moment of opportunity is upon us. We know that something is wrong! We know that something must be done!

We know that something must change! Our situation demands response. What must we do?

Crucial questions must be asked.

Accurate answers must be found.

Suitable action must be taken.

Is revival the answer?

Thoughtful inquiry concerning revival is now in order. Among the critical questions that need to be asked and answered are: 3

1. What is a true revival?

2. Are revival and spiritual awakening the same?

3. Why is there so little interest in revival in the church?

4. What can we expect to happen when revival comes?

5. Is it realistic to hope for revival now?

Let’s look at these questions one by one.

ONE: WHAT IS A TRUE REVIVAL? Revival is one of the most controversial subjects imaginable. I have heard people argue this subject in complete contradiction to one another. One group insists that there are no revivals in the Old Testament, while another group is sure that revival is exclusively an Old Testament theme. Some adamantly insist that revivals are nothing more than emotional orgies, and others are sure that time after time nations and peoples have been preserved from destruction by true revivals. Who is right?

Some years ago I was asked to speak on revival to the student body and faculty of a Baptist institution in the Principality of Wales. When I had finished my lengthy but carefully worded presentation, a faculty member rose and requested permission to speak. In what appeared to be a kindly fashion, he informed 4

my auditors that they should forgive my ignorance as a foreigner in declaring that religious revivals had been a tremendous source of good in their country.

He proceeded to vehemently insist that revivals had never been anything but a source of evil and confusion, and that the last thing any country needed was another such debacle.

While his attack quite surprised many, it appeared to have no particular immediate impact on the meeting which continued vigorously for a considerable time. However, during a break, the professor stepped up to me and expressed sorrow that it was necessary for him to correct my mistaken notions. I looked straight in his eyes and asked, “Do you realize what happened here tonight?” He was very unsure of what I meant. Thus I added, “I made no response to your foolish statement whereas I could have exposed you for what you really are–a conceited and ignorant man. Your statement was so absurd that I could have completely destroyed you academically.” “Why didn’t you?” he asked. I answered, “Because it is clear to me that you are a man without saving grace, but I believe the day is going to come when you will desperately need it. I know I have no way to require it, but I want to make one request of you.” “What is that?” he queried. “That some-

time, when your circumstances are desperate and all hope seems gone, that you will remember that one time an American evangelical extended grace to you and that his grace is as nothing in comparison to the grace that God Himself is willing to extend you.” “I assure you,” he said, “I will remember.”

Why did the professor speak so foolishly? I am convinced that it is only spiritually blind men, religious, but without the grace of God, who speak evil against true revival. I am also convinced that the lack of genuine interest in revival which seems to characterize so many professed Christians today is simply that they have no real idea of what genuine revival is.

Revival is truly a work of grace. It can never be earned. It can never be brought into being by the will of men. Some have tried to convince themselves and others that a revival can be had any time it is wanted. In the early part of the nineteenth century a new teaching on revival gripped the popular imagination.

At the heart of this theology was the notion that if I ought, I can. It was said that a revival is nothing other than the right use of the right means. Revivals were likened to farming. Just as the farmer plows, sows, waters, cultivates, and harvests, so the Christian worker, using the right means, brings about revival.

While this notion seemed to work at that time (after all 1792 to 1859 was a time of very frequent revivals in the United States), it long ago proved itself in error and certainly is not working now. Revivals are truly an act of divine grace.

The incredible desirability of revivals is found in what is always their most precious feature--the nearness of God. The simplest way to describe a revival is “God in the midst of His people.” This is beautifully expressed in a Psalm of Asaph, “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good...” (Psalm 73:28 NASV). This feature is gloriously stated in the title of Bryan Edwards’ book, Revival: A People Saturated with God. The better one understands the biblical teaching on the presence of God, the more wonderful revival becomes. Think of it from the perspective of three aspects of the presence of God: The Essential Presence The Manifest Presence The Cultivated Presence

God’s Essential Presence When we speak of the essential presence of God, we are referring to his omnipresence. We understand that God fills heaven and earth (Jeremiah 23:24). We know that it is impossible to flee from God’s presence (Psalm 139:7-12). If 5

we want to illustrate this truth to youth, we may ask them to imagine themselves on a rocket ship travelling out into space for thirty-five years and assure them that in all their travels outward they will never pass a place where God is not. In the church we remind people that in His essential presence, God is no more present in the church than in a dive or den of iniquity. Tragically, many who recognize this kind of teaching have never faced the question, “What is the impact of God’s essential presence on society?”

Are people afraid of God because of His essential presence? Does His essential presence keep them from sinning? The obvious answer is NO!

God’s Manifest Presence The manifest presence of God is an altogether different matter. Manifest means palpable or evident to the eye, mind or judgment—thus obvious or felt. Moses in the burning bush encountered God’s manifest presence as did the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. An impressive number of passages in Scripture speak of God drawing near and of God distancing Himself. A classic illustration is found in the incident of the golden calf in Exodus 32-33. God first warns Moses that He is about to utterly destroy the people because of 6

their sin (32:10). As a result of Moses’ intercession, God then threatens to send an angel before them but not go with them Himself lest He destroy them on the way because they are a stiffnecked people (32:34; 33:5). As a result of Moses’ further intercession, God says, “My presence shall go with you...,” to which Moses responds, “If Thy presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Thy sight, I and Thy people?

Is it not by Thy going with us so that we, I and Thy people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” (33:14-16).

The manifest presence of God in their midst is that which distinguishes Christians from all the other peoples on the face of the earth. Moses knew that because of sin, the people of God were about to lose the one thing that distinguished them from all others. Sin always separates people from God’s manifest presence. God never allows His manifest presence in those who cling to their sin. This is powerfully demonstrated in Isaiah 63:764:12. Read it carefully! Notice these urgent portions: 63:10 “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.”

63:15 “Look down from heaven, and see from Thy holy

and glorious habitation; where are Thy zeal and Thy mighty deeds?

The stirrings of Thy heart and Thy compassions are restrained toward me.”

63:17 “Why, O Lord, dost Thou cause us to stray from Thy ways, and harden our hearts from fearing Thee? Return for the sake of Thy servants...”

63:19 “We have become like those over whom Thou hast never ruled, like those who were not called by Thy name.”

64:12 “Wilt Thou restrain Thyself at these things, O Lord?

Wilt Thou keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?”

Isaiah is painfully aware that God’s people are under the righteous judgment of God. These righteous judgments can be either remedial or final. A final judgment involves death and/ or destruction and does not normally prompt one to repentance.

The account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts five provides a tragic illustration of such a final judgment. Isaiah, however, is dealing with a people who have fallen under God’s remedial judgment. A remedial judgment provides time, opportunity and promptings toward repentance.

God sends remedial judgments to turn His people back to Himself. Isaiah’s prayer in 64:1-4 clearly indicates his hope.

Another very helpful portion of Scripture is found in Judges 2-16. Something of an outline of

a frequent pattern is portrayed in chapter two: a. The people begin in a right relationship with God and are blessed. b. They sin and do not repent c. God brings them under a righteous judgment d. When the judgment is too heavy to bear, they cry to the Lord for deliverance e. When their cry is truly from their hearts, God raises up a judge/deliverer, and they are returned to a place of blessing. This pattern occurs seven times in the next fourteen chapters.

God has an infinite variety of remedial judgments at his disposal. The passages in Isaiah and Judges help us to understand this. Joel (1-2) describes a terrible plague of locusts. Jeremiah (13) speaks of spiritual drunkenness. However, among the many remedial judgments that God may utilize, none appear to be more frequently utilized than the withdrawal of His manifest presence. Every indication is that across this nation right now tens of thousands of churches are under that precise judgment. The proof is in the fact that when the manifest presence of God is withdrawn from a church or society, sin mounts up.

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God’s Cultivated Presence It is a remarkably blessed truth that even when every other church in a given city is under the judgment of God, your church can still cultivate God’s presence in a glorious way. This is also true of individuals. Every other individual of your acquaintance can be living in unresolved sin and under God’s righteous judgment, and yet you can live repentantly and be constantly and consciously cultivating the presence of Christ in your life and enjoying an awesome sense of His nearness. When the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Obed, he said, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake him, He will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:1-2). This is the Word of God and must be heeded today by each of us.

Thus, we can answer precisely the question, “What is a true revival?” A true revival is a blessed season when God is in the midst of His people in a manifest way. By this definition we can readily ascertain what is true revival and what is not. In recent years we have heard of many boastful claims of great revivals occurring.

What is the outstanding characteristic of these movements?

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Noise? Excitement? Physical Phenomena? Crowds? Holiness?

A friend of mine was determined to visit one of these “revival” scenes and asked if I had any advice. Yes, I said. Talk to the chief of police and ask if a revival exists in that city. The chief said, “Absolutely not! There is no revival in this city. If there were, the crime rate would show it.”

Try as some may to avoid it, the only convincing evidence of revival is holiness.

The reason why the movement of God in Wales in 19041905 is so wisely remembered is not the great preaching with which it was blessed or even the extraordinary wisdom of its leadership, but the incredibly wonderful impact upon holiness.

Countless dens of iniquity were closed. Thousands of drunkards were made sober for the rest of their days. Time after time the judges of the principality laid white gloves on the bench signifying there were no criminals to be tried. Policemen were largely unemployed in anything other than trying to keep the churches from collapsing because of the weight of the multitudes crowding in. Indeed many of them organized themselves into gospel quartets and sang in the services.

Hundreds of homes celebrated Christmas for the first time because the father was sober and had not wasted his income on drinks, bets on sporting events,

and sinful pleasures. And, perhaps more remarkable than any of the other evidences of God’s presence in the land, the mules and ponies in the deep earth mines went on strike. Having for so long been driven with kicks and curses, they simply did not know how to respond when the newly converted miners came down the shaft and put their arms around the necks of the animals, saying, “Mulie dear, we are here to serve the Lord Christ.

Let’s have a hymn and prayer and then get to work.” Any movement that calls itself revival that does not result in a wonderful increase of holiness is a sham.

For some, however, this seems too commonplace a definition of revival to be consequential. Many are prepared to argue, “God is always with us in this fashion.” Nonsense! You have only to ask, “What is the most noted aspect of God’s revelations of Himself to the men of Scripture?” to know how far from this we usually are. Is not the holiness of God always the overwhelming issue? Such cries as, “woe is me for I am undone”; “I am a man of unclean lips and an impure heart”; “depart from me, I am not worthy” are to be expected when The Holy One manifests Himself. Most of us recognize that Satan can duplicate many of the phenomena of Scripture, but the one thing that he cannot produce (nor would

he if he could) is true biblical holiness. It is the one truly reliable evidence of the presence of God in an individual or a church. Are you marked by such holiness? Is your church? Our personal, tragic lack of holiness is constantly proclaiming our own desperate need of revival.

The absence of holiness in the church has made the church an incredible source of mockery to the world, and this proves the immense need of revival right now!

TWO: ARE REVIVAL AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING THE SAME? For those well acquainted with history, there is no doubt that these two terms have on occasion been used interchangeably. In that period roughly covering the years 1732 to 1770, the movement in Britain under George Whitefield, John & Charles Wesley, Daniel Rowland, Howell Harris, William Williams, etc. was called The Evangelical Revival. The same movement in America under George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, the Tennents, and a host of others was named the First Great Awakening.

Technically, however, there is an important difference in the use of the two terms. Revival refers to the church. Awakening happens in the world.

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Awakening follows revival. It can be simply but movingly stated by referring again to Exodus 33:16. At the present time the church is in no position to affect the world for good. There is so much of the world in the church that, practically speaking, no one believes the wild claims of many that God is with us. But let the church humble herself, pray as she has not for a very long time, repent by turning from all of her arrogant and wicked ways, and seek God’s face, and may God in His grace choose once again to manifest Himself to His own people.

When He does, repentance will go to deeper levels than ever before, and restitution will accompany repentance. The new love of holiness and of the God of holiness will profoundly impact all that the church is and does. When unconverted family members that have been crushed and broken by such sins as greed and selfishness on the part of their “professional Christian” brothers and sisters see their radically altered behavior, they will want to know what happened.

Shopkeepers who are often well aware of professed Christians who steal from them will be profoundly impacted when they come in and make restitution. In short, the fact that church members begin to act like Christians will so radically impact the world that multitudes will flock 10

to Christ and the church to discover for themselves what caused this radical change. Thankfully, it is almost impossible to have a true revival in the church without a wonderful awakening in the world.

THREE: WHY IS THERE SO LITTLE INTEREST IN REVIVAL IN THE CHURCH? The bulk of the church is disorientated to the God of the Bible. The god that so many believe in and preach about is not the God who reveals Himself in Holy Scripture but the god of their own imaginations. If you pay close attention to much of the religious talk of the day you might very well conclude that the majority believe either that there are two gods or one god who has grown up and gained control of his disposition.

Consider these two tragically erroneous viewpoints.

First, the notion of two gods Almost no one would come right out and say, “I believe in two gods: the god of the Old Testament and the god of the New Testament.” I am not even stating that there are those who actually believe and teach this two-god view. Rather, I am suggesting that by their words, acts, and obvious biblical ignorance, they seem to hold to

such a notion. For instance, it is common to hear professing Christians say, “I can’t believe in a God you have to fear”; “The God that I worship would never let people suffer like that”; “No real God would ever let that kind of man exist.” A onetime Methodist bishop denounced this Old Testament god as “a dirty, bloody bully.” Despite the fact that most persons calling themselves Christians are revolted by the bishop’s blasphemous language, they don’t really know or like the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The idea of God turning and becoming the enemy of His own people is repulsive to them. When they hear of the Old Testament wars and of the deaths of tens of thousands in a single day they are disgusted.

The notion of a demanding God who has set laws and who will not waver in His demands is not their type. Thus, they favor a kinder, gentler God. The God of the New Testament, whom they believe is always and only grace and sweetness, is their kind of a God.

Second, a God who has grown up and has learned to control His disposition There are those who are sure there is absolutely only one God. They have read at least parts of the Old Testament and have found that the God who is

revealed there is too stern and rigid to suit their notion. Thus they imagine a God whose own grace has so saturated Him that He is no longer to be feared. The god they have created in their imagination is not at all like the Old Testament God of the patriarchs, but an older, nicer, Santa Claus type, not too old to be strong, but much too old to be harsh and demanding. This God they have made does not bring His own people under righteous judgments, and He would never turn His back upon them and become their enemy. Their God is much too kind to withdraw His manifest presence from them. They can scarcely believe any thinking person could believe in a God so rigid that He would destroy His own people for disregarding His laws and placing their interests above His. Surely it is long past the time when the preachers and teachers of the land should have shouldered their responsibility for this tragic disorientation towards the God of the Bible which so profoundly affects the churches of the land. Multitudes in the ministry have never personally heeded the words of Azariah the prophet cited above. Multitudes more have never personally made a careful study of the God of the Bible who reveals Himself in Scripture. The vast majority of American church members know even less than their leaders. They 11

have never heard a searching series of sermons on the attributes of God. They have never been confronted with systematic teaching of the Bible on the anthropomorphisms. If they had to write essays on God’s immutability, His omniscience, the hands of God, His face, His eyes, His mighty arm, they wouldn’t know where to begin. Knowing so little about the God who reveals Himself, is it any wonder that they end up worshiping a god of their own imagination?

That there are always consequences of allowing ourselves a degraded view of God should come as no surprise. Consider these tragic parallels:

• A low view of God leads to a high view of self.

• A high view of self results in a distorted view of sin.

• A distorted view of sin results in an erroneous view of salvation.

That describes precisely our situation. Millions of church members show no signs of the life of God in them and yet have been assured by some “Christian Worker” that they have entered the kingdom of God. Heaven must shudder on Sunday morning when so many multitudes in love with their sin sing to the God they do not know of the faith and the love which they do not have.

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Because of the widespread erroneous views of God that prevail in much of the church, the need of revival is largely unseen and unfelt. In this context, let me offer five reasons why there is so little interest in revival in the church.

1. The false notion that the great problems in our society are the fault of others. We regularly hear the blame for what is wrong in the world pinned on the world itself. It’s that terrible media . . . if only we had Christian politicians . . . It’s the school system . . . etc., etc. Is it a surprise when a sinner sins?

No! Indeed! The surprise is when a saint sins! Our view of God has been so degraded that we find conduct acceptable that is utterly loathsome to God. We call people Christians who for the first time in their lives have yet to hate sin and flee from it in repentance. This problem is so invasive that in terms of conduct it is nearly impossible to distinguish the church from the world.

If the only evidence of Christian experience is verbal, it is no wonder the world mocks the church. While there was a time in America that the church profoundly impacted the world for good, we now see the impact of the world on the church for evil.

Was Jesus speaking foolishly when He described believers as the salt of the earth and

the light of the world? Is today’s church keeping society from going rotten? Does the light of Christ shining through His church lighten the whole world?

Certainly not! Rather than blaming others for what is wrong, why don’t we blame ourselves?

Why don’t we admit that our own disorientation toward God has resulted in the awful conquests of sin in our society? Why isn’t the church on its face before God pleading for forgiveness and help?

2. The end times mentality: We are living in the last of the last days and things are only going to get worse. We may be living in the end times, but then again we may not. Luther thought he was but was wrong.

The New England Mathers thought they were but were mistaken. Napoleon was described as the antichrist as were both Hitler and Mussolini. Thousands of books have been written, published, circulated and discarded because their end-times focus was in error. Who says it’s too late for another revival? Is that Christ’s word or does such teaching come from the other source?

Every true revival has been preceded by not less than four highly consequential things: • a terrible moral and spiritual decline, • a righteous judgment from God,

• the raising up by God Himself of some immensely burdened leader or leaders, and • some extraordinary action on the part of God’s people.

Consider each of these pre-revival elements: A terrible moral and spiritual decline. What were the circumstances in England prior to the beginnings of the Evangelical Revival. The moral and spiritual decline was very deep. Clergy like Daniel Rowland and thousands of others were unregenerate. They spent much of their time and energy in amusements, recreation, and often open sin.

Any baptized person was considered a Christian no matter how profligate their lifestyle. Many of the churches were virtually nothing other than dens of iniquity.

When young George Whitefield went to Oxford University, he had a deep inner longing for peace with God. He found no one in the city who could aid him in his quest for salvation. In time, he met the Wesley brothers and “The Holy Club” who urged him to save himself by good works. This proved no more satisfying to him than to them. So earnest was he in his good works that his health broke down and he was sent home from the university too ill to study. Then, by the grace of God, a copy of “The Life of God 13

in the Soul of Man,� by Henry Scougal, came into his hands. It showed him the way to Christ, and he was magnificently converted. Within a very brief time God turned him into a flaming revivalist, and the fires of revival were spreading across both the land and the ocean.

For those who think things have never been so bad before as they are now, can you name a single university town in America where no one at all can help a young student find Christ? A terrible moral and spiritual decline in a land is every bit as much a sign of the need of revival as it is a token of the end.

In former generations, men and women of faith have cried unto the Lord for revival when they have seen the desperate wickedness of the world in the church.

Why not now?

A righteous judgment from God. Judgments from God are already in place. Is it not clear that the tragic absence of holiness in the church is proof positive that the manifest presence of God has been largely withdrawn from His people? Earlier, I mentioned the judgment of spiritual drunkenness described in Jeremiah 13:12-17. Have you ever pondered the ways in which drunkenness displays itself?

Notice these marks of the drunkard:

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a) Drunken persons walk with unsteadiness of foot. b) Drunks are tragically affected by muddled thoughts and an inability to think clearly. c) Persons who are drunk suffer severely impaired judgment. d) Drunks are often incoherent and irrational in their speech. e) Drunken persons are given to unprovoked fighting and abusive conduct. f) Drunks very frequently suffer from the loss of natural inhibitions and restraints. g) Drunks are often slovenly in appearance and in personal hygiene. f) Frequent drunkenness nearly always results in alienation. g) Sluggishness and prolonged drunken stupors are the regular results of drunkenness. h) Drunkards have an awful ability not only to destroy the lives of those around them but their own bodies as well.

(See: Spiritual Drunkenness,

by Richard Owen Roberts.

Wheaton, IL: International Awakening Press, 1993. pp.10-17).

Face this reality; these marks of drunkenness parallel precisely much of the activity and spirit of today’s church.

And what about such things as fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, tidal waves and a host of other natural disasters? Some time ago a German insurance

company, which for obvious reasons keeps track of such things, reported a three-fold increase of such calamities between the years 1960 and 1998. I haven’t seen their figures for 1999-2009, but surely there has been a further increase. Are these “natural” disasters or is the sovereign God showing His controlling hand and calling His wayward people to return to Him with all their hearts?

The raising up, by God Himself, of some immensely burdened leader or leaders. The history of revivals is rich in the portrayal of the burdened leaders raised up by God. Beginning with Moses, “But now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me out from the book which thou hast written” (Exodus 32:32), until the final revival of history, revival movements are led by those persons whom God has immensely burdened.

There need be nothing mystical about this. When a man sees what God sees, he feels what God feels. This is what happened to Moses. This is what Ezekiel depicts in chapters eight and nine of his prophecy when he describes how the Lord stretched out the form of a hand and caught him by a lock of his head and forced him to see the abominations in the land and cried out, “Do you see this, son of man?”

Preachers who are disorientated toward the true God will

never arouse their own congregation, let alone the entire land.

The desperate need of the hour is for men who see what God sees of the terrible abominations in the church and in the land and are as passionately aroused as Moses and Ezekiel.

The declension is in place!

The righteous judgments from God have occurred! Where are the immensely burdened leaders?

Some extraordinary action of the part of God’s people.

Throughout history, the most common form of this extraordinary action has been found in solemn assembly. In earlier generations America was often blessed with glorious revivals because our fathers knew how to repent and pray and how to lead their people in the same.

Our evangelical literature of the past is rich in published sermons preached at days of fasting and prayer and corporate repentance. These were often called “Fast Day Sermons.” I have been permitted to gather dozens of these, a few of which have been published in “Sanctify the Congregation: A Call to the Solemn Assembly and to Corporate Repentance” (International Awakening Press, 1994).

Of course the Scriptures themselves are our greatest source of help. Have you studied Solemn Assemblies in your Bible? There are dozens of pas15

sages providing wonderful help.

Perhaps the greatest is found in Joel 1:1 - 2:27. Especially urgent are the words beginning in 2:12, “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to Me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, and relenting of evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him... Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants, let the bridegroom come out of his room and the bride out of her bridal chamber. Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare Thy people, O Lord, and do not make Thine inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations.” Why should they among the peoples say, “Where is their God?” I ask you, why should we force the peoples of the world to ask, “Where is their God?” Why don’t we seek Him until He is with us in His mighty power as He was in Joel’s day following the solemn assembly?

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3. The love of the church of doctrinal error, especially regarding regeneration, repentance, and responsible Christian living. There are five popular views regarding regeneration: baptismal regeneration, educational regeneration, reformational regeneration, decisional regeneration, and regeneration by the Word and Spirit of God. The first four are grievously erroneous and yet widely accepted among professed evangelicals. In consequence, churches are often tragically damaged with far more who bear all the marks of spiritual death than of those who can provide credible evidence of regeneration. When was the last time you faced squarely this problem?

Do you personally know the difference between false teaching on regeneration and true?

How can a person go the right way when they are going the wrong way? Must they not turn from the wrong way in order to go the right way? Yet all around us in the church are those who think they are following Christ who have never repented and do not even wish to do so. How can such foolish views exist, and why aren’t our “spiritual” leaders declaring the impossibility of following both Christ and self at one time?

If, as some have estimated, as many as 70% of the members of evangelical churches are unregenerate, unrepentant, and

irresponsible, can we wisely suppose that 100% of the ministers are right with God? That hardly seems possible. Perhaps at the heart of the problem is an unregenerate leadership leading an unregenerate people into unrepentant and irresponsible lifestyles.

4. The incredible neglect of prayer and misunderstanding of the place of prayer in the House of God. When Christ cleansed the temple, He adamantly insisted that His Father’s House was to be a house of prayer for all the nations. When opposed by the religious leaders of His day, He told them, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” When He ended His Sermon on the Mount, Christ clearly stated that a house built upon the sand would fall (Matthew 7:24-27).

In Christ’s days on earth there were some praying people like Simeon, Anna, and the publican who went into the temple to pray. But the place of worship was not a house of prayer.

Having some praying people in your church does not qualify it as a house of prayer. A church is a house of prayer when all of its people are a praying people who spend at least a portion of their prayer time praying together as one. In the Joel quotation above, none were excused from the solemn assembly. The infants at their mothers’ breasts were required to be present. Even the

newlyweds had their honeymoons canceled.

We have fallen so far from biblical standards that some are even teaching that God gives the gift of prayer to some and they are to intercede for the rest of us.

Nonsense! God’s standard is the whole church together on its face seeking God. To talk about revival and to do nothing towards turning the church into a house of prayer is hypocrisy.

5. The inability of multitudes of ministers to live without human affirmation. A significant percentage of the ministers of the land fear man more than they fear God. They are in such desperate need of human affirmation that they regularly betray the Lord without even realizing what they are doing.

There is a very telling word about the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of John, chapter 2. There we read: When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing.

But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man (John 2:23-25).

We know that this passage is linked with the account of 17

Nicodemus in chapter three, and that Christ rejected Nicodemus’ claim to faith on the same grounds that He rejected the claim of the crowd in chapter two. No claim to faith based on sight is acceptable to Christ.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Christ was free to reject their claims because He did not need anyone to affirm Him. He knew what was in their hearts as well as He knew His own heart.

One of the most powerful things that can happen to a servant of the Lord is to be delivered from all need of human affirmation. It has often been said that he who fears the Lord fears no man. The fear of man is one of the greatest hindrances to revival that exists in the church today.

Take the two issues immediately preceding this: false doctrine and prayerlessness in the church. The preacher who fears only God will wade right in and deal with these urgent issues.

The preacher who fears man and needs their affirmation will fuss with them on the surface, but nothing will change. Oh, that God Himself might raise up an army of Daniel-like men who will bring the nation back to God!

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FOUR: WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO HAPPEN WHEN REVIVAL COMES? When God draws near in revival, a host of benefits accompany His coming. Let me mention five.

1. New levels of repentance are sought and found. Most of us are aware, at least to some extent, of the fluctuations in our own spiritual temperature. We grow hot, and before long we cool down. We are full of zeal but become increasingly careless. Some have lived so long with these fluctuations that they regard them as normal and acceptable, even when it is obvious that sin is mounting up in the heart. A single sin allowed lodging serves like a magnet. It draws more and more sin into the life until soon, a perilous state of backsliding exists.

We see this same pattern in churches and even in nations.

The Old Testament Scriptures provide many illustrations of this problem in both Israel and Judah. And always, at the heart of the problem is tolerated sin.

Thus, time after time they are urged to return to the Lord, and prophet after prophet warns them of the perils of their backsliding.

But when God draws near in revival, this pattern of inconsistency is seen for the abomination it really is. The presence of

any sin whatsoever in the life becomes intolerable. Repentance is driven to greater depths than ever before. Holiness becomes a thing of great beauty and the longing of the heart. Consistency of life becomes a matter of incredible consequence.

2. Joy fills the hearts of believers and radiates out of the church. In a Psalm of the sons of Korah this magnificent fact is couched in the words of a vital prayer: “Wilt Thou not Thyself revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee” (Psalm 85:6). Personal sin always robs the individual believer of true joy. Likewise, corporate sin robs the church of joy. The absence of real joy provides convincing evidence to a lost world that they don’t need or want what believers and the organized church offer.

3. Lost love returns and holds the revived in its powerful grip. In consequence, for those who are revived, murmurings cease, friction disappears, and boasting is buried. Deepseated interpersonal problems are resolved. Longtime family feuds shrivel and die. Jostling for positions of prominence vanishes. Competition between churches takes wings and is gone. The contagion of love, which begins its conquest in the church, is soon conquering the unrighteous and may even subdue the nation.

4. The ministry of the Word of God takes on new dimensions of power. Revivals have often been described as plentiful effusions of the Holy Spirit. In every season of revival of which I have ever read, the Word of God is always quickened and goes forth with vastly greater than normal power. While Jesus was describing the advantages of His departure to His disciples, He said, If I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go I will send Him to you. And He, when He is come, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged (John 16:7-11).

Revival has been likened to another Pentecost. Isn’t it truly wonderful that in revival we have both the manifest presence of Christ in the church and the quickening power of the Holy Spirit in the world making the Word of God beautifully effective in the hearts of multitudes at one and the same time!

5. The Kingdom of God rushes forward like a tidal wave of divine blessing. It is not uncommon in a season of 19

revival to see the kingdom of God advance further in one year than in the six preceding decades. Surely, everyone who prays “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” should realize how vital revival is to the fulfillment of this prayer.

FIVE: IS IT REALISTIC TO HOPE FOR REVIVAL NOW? I am full of hope! Why? Let me explain.

1. There are biblical promises not yet fulfilled. For example, consider Romans eleven. Israel, the natural branch, has been removed for a season because of sin. In verse eleven the Apostle asks, “They did not stumble so as to fall did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.” Thus the Gentile Church has been grafted in with a purpose and for a season. The Gentile Church is to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Can you not imagine the Jews crying out, “This is not right. Jesus Christ is first and foremost our Messiah.

Why should the Gentiles possess salvation while we ourselves are left out? Do you know of a time in the past when the Jews were provoked to jealousy because of the glory of God in the Gentile Church? Is it not apparent that a wonderful revival of today’s 20

church could provoke that jealousy?

2. Our God is an unchanging God! Countless times in the past, when the need was as great or perhaps even greater than right now, God has chosen to come among His people in reviving power. Has He lost any of His strength? Has His heart grown calloused against us? Does He no longer care for His church? Everything I know about God says that His eyes are still upon us, and His ears are still attentive to our cry of desperation, and His strong hand is ready at any moment to stir up His power and to come and save.

Do you remember what happened before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed?

We find the record in Genesis 18. Abraham was seated at the door of his tent during the heat of the day when three persons appeared and stood opposite him. The Lord told Abraham that the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah was very great and their sin exceedingly grave.

While the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, Abraham came near to the Lord and asked, Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep it away and not spare the

place for the sake of fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly?

Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five... Suppose forty are found there... Suppose thirty are found there... Suppose twenty are found there... Suppose ten are found there?

And the Lord’s answers were explicit: If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account... I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there... I will not do it on account of the forty... I will not do it if I find thirty there... I will not destroy it on account of the twenty... I will not destroy it on account of the ten.

3. Tens of thousands of people have been stirred to pray and even now are praying for revival! Who stirred them?

Did you? Did I? Can any man claim the credit for this? No! They have been stirred by God Himself. Why would God stir people to pray for revival if He had no intention of answering?

Do you care enough to intercede like Abraham?

Can you join Moses in his cry to God for his people, “If Thou wilt forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me out of the book which Thou has written”?

Is your heart-cry the cry of Isaiah, “Rend the heavens and come down”?

Does the prayer of the Psalmist correspond with your prayer, “O God, restore us, and cause Thy face to shine upon us, and we will be saved” (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19)?

Is not now the foremost question that remains: What will you do?

Will you humble yourself?

Will you pray?

Will you seek God’s face?

Will you turn from your wicked ways?

Will you believe Him to hear from heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land?

Richard Owen Roberts is one of today’s top authorities in the area of revival and spiritual awakening. He has written and spoken extensively on revival.

He and his wife are the owners and operators of a large Christian bookstore in Wheaton, IL. 21

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The Jesus Movement

by Mike McGinnis

Twenty-five years ago I listened as Dr. Adrian Rogers made some remarks in reference to the phenomenon known as the Jesus Movement.

His observations were about a major era in Christian history that has been largely ignored by secular historians and casually dismissed by many theologians.

I cannot quote his words; however, the following is a reasonable paraphrase of a pivotal sentence among his remarks: It is an embarrassment to the church that something called the Jesus Movement had to function outside of the organized church in order for it to flourish.

In respect to the Jesus Movement, it is well documented that a significant number of pastors and theologians were cautious to the point of

hyper-skepticism. This skepticism gave way to a highly critical view of the Jesus Movement by a considerable segment of the Christian community. With a single eye glued to a microscope, these well-meaning Pharisees failed to see the bigger picture of what swept across our nation, beginning on the west coast and eventually encircling the globe.

From their perspective, doctrine trumped devotion and, rather than nurturing the devotion of millions of young people who had become captivated with the Son of God and compelled by His love, they spent their energy looking for every possible devia23

tion from what they believed to be the truth. Sadly, they missed the point that Jesus is the Truth, the Way and the Life. It would be a disservice to fail to emphasize how important correct doctrine is. Without question, it is exceptionally important and critically essential. However, to quote Vance Havner, “You can be as straight as a gun barrel doctrinally and just as hollow.”

Dr. Rogers’ observation concerning the necessity of the Jesus Movement operating outside the confines of the organized church is true. However, his observation should not be taken to mean the Jesus Movement as a whole rejected the church. There were those of us whose lives were deeply rooted in the church. I, among millions, saw no inconsistency in being an active part of the Jesus Movement and maintaining a warm relationship with my church. Yet, many who embraced the Jesus Movement found the church to be an unwelcoming place and found themselves viewed as a threat to the accepted orthodoxy of a particular church or denomination.

I believe the Jesus Movement was a movement of God. Christianity itself began as a movement of God. From its beginning, there have been those who wish to mold the church into something which serves their needs while it ignores God’s purpose for the church.

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The church is not meant to be an institution, although there are organizational principles it might have in common with an institution. During times of spiritual renewal, we see the church emerge as a movement of God. This is what occurred during the Jesus Movement. The church, in its purest form, got out of the box. Some spent a decade riding the crest of what God was doing outside the box of organized religion. Others spent that same decade trying to get God back into their box.

This does not imply that any and all organization is bad. It does mean that we should regard organization very carefully. The church is a movement of God; we do not want to get man’s fingerprints all over it. The church’s effort to protect its institutional regularities can easily distort and diminish what the church is supposed to be.

According to whichever source you acknowledge, the Jesus movement either began in San Francisco’s HaightAshbury district or at a small Nazarene church in Costa Mesa, California. No one can say for sure where the inception of this youth-driven movement in the name of Jesus Christ originated.

Those who wish to ascribe the movement to hippies point to a small storefront evangelical mission called the Living Room in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury

district. Others, including this writer, recognize the broader influence of the Jesus Movement and see this influence crossing lines related to age, denominations, and ministries. There was no part of our society that was left untouched by the Jesus Movement in one way or another.

It was Chuck Smith who brought together the movement and the church. In 1965, he began a pastorate at a small Nazarene church in Costa Mesa, California. His wife, Kay, had read about hippies in the newspaper and seen them on television. Her curiosity led her to ask Chuck to take her somewhere she could actually see hippies.

He took her to Huntington Beach, where she observed young people that to her appeared aimless and hopeless.

Her heart was moved. Within a few weeks, Chuck came home to find his home filled with a group of hippies. Kay had returned to Huntington Beach and invited these young people to their home. She was convinced they could reach these lost youth with the gospel. Chuck began to hold regular Bible studies in his home.

From these Bible studies, Calvary Chapel was born; and in the years that followed, hundreds of similar churches were spawned, and a Christian phenomenon was realized.

Although there were a number of aberrations of the Jesus Movement (most notably David Berg and the Children of God), these various departures from genuine Christianity do not define the Jesus Movement.

I would argue that the Jesus Movement was an authentic movement of God, and its several counterfeit manifestations confirm, rather than deny, its authenticity.

My perspective of the Jesus Movement is tainted by my experiences in respect to the Jesus Movement. I am a product of the Jesus Movement. This movement drew me to Christ, shaped my thinking, influenced my interpretation of Scripture, and formed my concept of ministry. We were called Jesus People and we liked this identification. To this day, I consider myself a Jesus Person.

In 1968, He captured my heart, and I fell passionately in love with Him as my Savior and my Lord. I have never gotten over His love for me and how His love for me generated a deep and lasting love in my heart for Him. Because of the Jesus Movement, I view Christianity as fundamentally a movement of God, interrupted from time to time by the attempt to institutionalize Christianity. This is not to imply that the Jesus Movement was without organization. However, there is a vast dif25

ference between having organization and being an organization.

I came of age during the Jesus Movement. Nineteenhundred, sixty-seven was the summer of love; no one over thirty-years-old was to be trusted. Anton Levey had founded the Church of Satan and was featured on the cover of Time Magazine; The God is Dead movement had begun to gain momentum; psychologist Timothy Leary advised young people to “turn on, tune in, and drop out”; and street people (better known as hippies) were taking over the streets of virtually every major city in the country.

There was a war to protest, sexual freedom to promote, and creative expression to be pursued through poetry and prose–much of it put to music. Individualism was highly prized; although, it seemed individualism was lost to a movement that was going nowhere, fast. I was sixteen, and to me all of this seemed “much ado about nothing.” These matters were taking place somewhere far, far away and had no bearing on my life. I was living in my tiny little world and felt no compulsion to protest, promote, or express anything that had nothing to do with me. Completely unaware, I was being slowly strangled by a selfcenteredness that was sinister in nature. I was drowning in my own conceit.

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Initially, as the Jesus movement quietly crept into central Alabama, it was a few young people who responded to this movement. I was one of those first few. I was aware of only one other Christian in my high School of over 2700 students.

My return to high-school in 1968 was unlike the beginning of any other school year. However, I was the least likely person to become a radical follower of Christ. I had less than a stellar reputation among students and teachers. I began my junior year of high school anticipating rejection and isolation. I was in for a surprise. Word had spread, and my days rapidly filled with students coming to me to ask questions about what had happened to me. Between classes, in the library, around a lunch table, and before and after school, I told my story over and over to the bemused, the confused, and those who were sincere seekers. Discussions often ended with one or more of my inquisitors praying a simple, heart-felt prayer to become a Christian. By the end of the first semester, the numbers who had become fully devoted followers of Christ were significant. No one had keep records; however, we believed the numbers were considerable enough that we should put some kind of structure in place. Each Friday was club day at my high school. On that day, a period

was set apart for various clubs to meet. We became convinced that we should start a Christian Club. The principal was hesitant to allow such a thing in light of a string of Supreme Court rulings on the place of religion in public schools, beginning in 1963 with a ban on school-sponsored prayer and school-sponsored Bible reading. However, to the surprise of many, the principal agreed to allow us to proceed with our plans. The only area available for a new club was the gymnasium. That worked well, for the first meeting over 700 students came. By the second semester, between 800-1200 students filled the gymnasium each Friday. I was completely unaware that I was on the cusp of a revival that would be largely misunderstood by the church and ignored by the national press for almost four years.

Though the Jesus Movement had progressed significantly by 1968, it had done so quietly. It was as though an underground movement was at hand and few realized what was happening.

I was surprised at how easily I could talk to other students about my new found faith in Jesus Christ and was amazed at how many of these conversations resulted in a genuine prayer for salvation in Jesus Christ. I am not careless with the word “genuine.” I make my judgment on the basis of how many of

these Christians continue to this day. I realized a movement was taking place at my high school; however, I had no idea the same thing was happening in cities and towns across the nation.

Charles Finney, the great revivalist of the nineteenthcentury, believed there was a formula for revival. Follow the formula and the results were inevitable. History does not support Finney’s position. The Bible proclaims God moves in mysterious ways. The word mystery is used often in the New Testament in reference to how God operates. In the New Testament sense, the word mystery means something that defies human reasoning. A mystery is revealed in part or in whole by God’s Spirit to the heart of His child on a need to know basis. This is because God will never remove the need of faith on our part. A movement of God is certainly a mystery. I was a part of what I consider to be the last great movement of God in the United States. I do not know if there will be another in this country. I have my doubts, largely based on our amazing ability to create impressive religious experiences on our own. We have mastered the gospel of tips and techniques.

We have honed our procedures.

Our churches run like well-oiled machines. It was not so in the 1960s. The church was in a state of confusion and had taken a 27

defensive posture. No one imagined what God was about to do.

The Jesus Movement was truly all about Jesus. To follow Him meant to choose a radical lifestyle where His honor mattered above everything else.

Those with whom I associated were very cautious about an easy-believism that diminished the three-fold call of Christ: deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. I became more and more careful in how I gave an invitation to receive Christ’s salvation. During my freshman year in college, I was returning to my home in Birmingham, Alabama, after concluding a revival in a church in Mobile, Alabama. I was to preach at a large youth rally in Birmingham that Sunday evening.

My trip that afternoon took longer than expected, and I arrived just before the rally was to begin. I was tired, and to me my preaching felt flat. I came to the end of my lackluster sermon and started into a typical invitation. The musicians began to play, but something was stirring in me that I could not, should not, ignore. It would serve well at this point to remind the reader that I was well aware that I was in the flow of a movement of God. My responsibility was to move according to the God of this movement. Most of our foolish missteps were in our failure to do this. I would not make that mistake in this case. I asked the musicians to stop playing. I suggested 28

the minister of music sit down.

I asked a crowd of over 2000 young people to pray for God’s guidance. For a couple of minutes I stood on the platform with my arms crossed and my head bowed.

I was waiting on God. What happened next would be devalued by my explanation. I will say the presence of God was palpable.

There was an exceptional silence in the auditorium. Then I knew what I was to do; I asked anyone who wanted to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to stand up and tell us why.

There was a rustling noise as people moved in their seats. Some were looking about to see if anyone would stand. I stood silently and waited. After, perhaps, a full minute, a young man stood. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties. It was apparent that he was trying to gather his words. Then he spoke, “I want to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.” He continued for several minutes explaining why he wanted to take this bold and radical step in his life. There was a din of whispers throughout the large auditorium. He finished his plea and stood perfectly still, as though he feared doing anything that would steal this moment from him. He looked intently at me as tears brimmed and flowed down each cheek. I asked the young man his name. “Larry,” he answered. I looked across the auditorium and asked if there

was someone who could explain to Larry what it means to be a Christian and how one becomes a Christian. Another young man began to make his way toward Larry from three rows back and answered as he came, “I can tell him.” Once he reached Larry, the two of them sat down and began to talk. Some around them were obviously praying. One young woman behind Larry leaned forward and put her hand on his back, as her lips moved in prayer.

Then, another person stood to announce to all her desire to receive Christ and gave an impassioned explanation as to why.

Another young woman came to sit with her and explain the Way to her. Similar scenarios played out again and again for the next two hours. The testimonies of those who had received Christ moments earlier were interspersed among the expressions of a desire to receive Christ as Lord. Although I spoke very little during this time, I would ask each person who stood to proclaim their new found faith in Christ to tell us how their lives would be different. There were confessions of sin, both general and specific. There were expressions of repentance, some so bold that they moved the most sincere of Christians among us. There were vows to make restitution.

After two hours, the invitation was called to a conclusion, and the service was officially ended.

But God was not finished, and the

greater part of the crowd remained well past midnight. This was the first and only time I gave an invitation in such a manner. There was no plan or purpose to what I was doing. I was responding, the best I knew, to the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was doing the work of God across a nation.

A movement of major proportion had been impacting millions, and it was largely ignored until 1971.

In 1970, Time Magazine, which had reported on the church of Satan and the God is Dead movement years earlier, had an article on “street Christians” and “Jesus freaks.” In early 1971, Look Magazine took a serious look at the Jesus Movement, being the first major publication to identify it as a movement. Suddenly, the movement became big news, reported throughout national magazines like Time, Newsweek, Life, Rolling Stone, and U.S. News & World Report. The “Jesus freak” became the most curious social phenomena of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Yet, the media’s interest in the movement waned by the end of 1971, even as the Jesus Movement intensified.

It was late on a Sunday night, and I had preached the first service of a revival that would continue until the following Sunday morning. The building was filled with teenagers from every high school in the general area. They were packed in beyond seating capacity. As 29

an invitation to received Christ was given, people in their teens, twenties, and thirties flooded the church aisles. Many people remained after the service was concluded. “Does this happen everywhere you go?” a man asked. I barely suppressed a laugh at the thought that I could create such a thing. We don’t create a movement of God, as much as we respond to a movement of God. Just as the children of Israel were to move in response to the movement of the pillar of cloud and fire, so God’s people respond to God’s moving in particular hearts and particular places. As the absurdity of the thought that I had somehow created what had happened that night hung in my mind, I followed the voice of the questioner until I saw his face and was moved by the look of stern bewilderment in his eyes.

This was the in early days of the Jesus movement, and this man wanted a sincere answer. In reaction, my look grew somber to match his. “No!” I responded as bluntly as I could without seeming rude, “This does not happen everywhere I go, but I often get to go where this is happening.”

As the movement unfolded, it became more and more apparent that this was of God. Man could neither create it nor control it. It became very important to a number of us that we respond to this movement of God by seeking the leadership 30

of His Holy Spirit intentionally and intensely. I feel no need to rehearse here the many foolish errors we made; suffice it to say we were young, and we embarrassed ourselves more than a few times. But this was God’s movement, and He chose to use the foolish things of this world.

While we were bloodied in the arena, some chose to watch comfortably from the stands and criticize our every failure.

However, our missteps were not done out of carelessness. And we were never cavalier in our efforts. It was our most sincere desire to honor and please Jesus Christ. We found solace and help in the kindness and patience of a God of grace. There were Jesus cheers, Jesus marches, and Jesus freaks; however, having been in the midst of this movement of God as a high-school student and a college student, what I experienced among those who were part of the Jesus Movement was a bold humility.

In June of 1972, an evangelistic conference sponsored

by Campus Crusade for Christ was held in Dallas, Texas. Young people from across the nation gathered to be challenged with a vision toward world evangelism and encouraged to seek some form of Christian service as a career. I was there, along with more than 80,000 high school and college students.

Some would say the Jesus Movement pinnacled in 1972, although the momentum of the movement would carry it almost to the end of the decade. Just as no one can say precisely when it all began, no one can identify a moment when it ended. A movement, by the very nature of itself, cannot remain the same, and whatever form it subsequently takes may not be easily identifiable with the movement in its original form. The movement is dynamic, or it is dead. Pentecost was a movement of God that became a catalyst for the spread of the gospel when persecu-

tion scattered those Christians throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.

In like manner, the Jesus Movement continues to this day in the form of ministries, missionaries, and ministers scattered around the world. We remain “Jesus People.” We are among the multitudes that have experienced its lasting impact. Though the Jesus Movement remains relatively neglected by mainstream and religious historians, its influence throughout the world was substantial and lasting. It was and is an important part of our Christian heritage.

Dr. Mike McGinnis has a PH.D. from Mid-America Baptist Seminary. He has been an evangelist, a missionary and a pastor during his forty-one years in the ministry. Dr. McGinnis has been the senior pastor of Eastwood Church in Ooltewah, Tennessee, for the past seventeen years. He and his wife, Sondra, have four adult children.

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Reflections on Revival

by Wayne Marshall

I sat at my desk diligently reviewing the notes I had just taken.

The year was 1975, and I had just heard a message entitled “How To Be Filled with the Holy Spirit.” Though I had grown up in a pastor’s home, had graduated from a Christian college, and had been preaching for four years, I had heard little of the subject matter from that tape.

The tape was a part of a series of tapes sent to me by my godly father-in-law whose church was experiencing a fresh, moving, life-changing work of the Spirit of God. I knew the revival that God had sent to that church body, and it birthed a longing in my heart for a movement of God like that in my own church. I then knelt by my chair, and even though I really did not have a full understanding of the commitment I was making, I asked

God for the filling of His Spirit.

Those few moments served as a catalyst for a lifelong search and desire to live in “heavensent, Holy Ghost revival.” Lewis Drummond wrote in his book The Awakening That Must Come the following words: Few of us today have ever seen a widespread spiritual awakening. Blessings here and there, yes; but, oh, for an awakening that would bring the masses to the cross and revolutionize our churches and nation. This is the cry of many. Its echoes are the cry of my heart.

It is not my intention to make all of us agree on what “revival” is or how it is to be defined. The subject is broad.

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The work is deep. The questions still go unanswered by many.

However, through this personal journey, we can reflect on what is real and what is false, what is genuine and what is artificial, and what is spiritual and what is man-induced and sustained.

My deep desire is that all who read this article may attempt to wrestle with the truths, remove the artificial, and find a fresh walk and a zest for the spiritual movement of God that must accompany every believer’s life.

To that end I wish for every reader “Happy Hunting.”

THE EARLY YEARS The text for the above mentioned tape was a familiar one for many. God’s Word says, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.” Obviously, this “preacher’s kid” had heard of the Holy Spirit. Messages were preached about how the Spirit convicted, corrected, and guided the lives of every believer. Few had dared to venture into the area of “the filling.” Several reasons could be cataloged for the shyness ministers had toward the subject.

Many made the assumption that believers would know about the Spirit’s activity in a Christian’s life. Others felt that preaching on the subject would “label” them, placing them in a denominational camp other than their 34

Baptist roots. One pastor even admitted that he did not understand the subject matter enough to preach on it. All of these explanations helped to create a vacuum in our lives that needed to be explored. Thus, the 1970s hit with a renewed emphasis on the “Spirit-filled Life,” and evangelists such as Ron Dunn, Manley Beasley, Jack Taylor, and Bill Stafford preached a message of dying to the self life and living under the power of the Holy Spirit in the daily walk of the Christian life.

The results of the commitment that I made in regard to personal revival must be shared before the ramifications can be examined. First, I saw a movement of God as a pastor of a small church. For the next twelve weeks God’s Spirit moved in the invitation, and someone came to know Christ each Sunday. Still others were witnessed to, and they accepted Christ in their homes or businesses. The church attendance nearly doubled. The record of baptisms for those days more than quadrupled in comparison to the previous years. Church members were excited and wanted to “do something” in the community. Everyone seemed to have a renewed sense of spiritual truth and desire in their lives.

A second result was a deeper desire to preach what was being experienced. For the first time

I wanted to study and not just “get by” in my sermon preparation. had a desire to keep a “quiet time.” This would be exhibited in the church life and ministry as well. Everyone seemed to appreciate my ministry and the influence I had in their lives.

In order to be fair and honest at this point it must be noted that business as usual soon returned to this little church.

It seemed there was a “cooling off” of the things of God, and everyone settled into a good pastor-church relationship again.

One must ask why the movement diminished. Was something done that quenched the Spirit? Did something change within the people of the church?

Why did the “revival” not linger? The answers seem to jump off the pages of our hearts. For one thing, in some form I began to “believe my own press clippings.” That would be a nice way of saying that pride entered the picture with little fanfare, but deadly accuracy. Although it would not even be noticed as pride at this point, I battled with that “besetting sin” for years to come.

With the waning of the Spirit, it was soon noted that the time had come to “move on,” and a new chapter would open up that would be more powerful, yet more devastating, in this journey of spiritual markers that

would mold the revival perspective more clearly.

A STEP FURTHER In June of 1977, a larger church in a nearby city called me to be their pastor. It would be in this church that the next understanding of revival would be shaped, and in retrospect, almost rejected completely. This church family grew steadily under my leadership. New families brought new ideas. The congregation became more diverse in its background as younger people moved into places of responsibility. The spiritual leanings seemed to expand to include those who had never been churched or who had come from backgrounds other than our traditional Baptist roots. A fresh wind of the Spirit of God blew through the congregation.

Church members came to the realization that they had never known Christ. A bold witness from growing believers resulted in an increase in baptisms. As others heard and saw, they came to join this fellowship. Sensing this movement, I began to teach the church family what God had taught me about the Spirit-filled life, spiritual warfare, and living in holiness. All of these truths seemed to further lead others to a deeper walk with Christ, a more meaningful witness to others, and a stronger commitment 35

to living a lifestyle that truly honored Christ. God seemed to be “up to something.” Henry Blackaby writes in his book Experiencing God that it is our task when God does a work to “join God where he is working.”

During this time I was privileged to be a part of a revival that took place in New Albany, Indiana. Participating with this church moved me to desire even a more realistic walk with the Lord for both myself and my church family. This yearning seemed to get ahead of where the people in my church were spiritually, and as a result it began to cause some friction.

Without my knowledge, there was a growing discomfort with the preaching, leadership, and direction that the church was experiencing. By the time I was told, it was too late. In a business meeting, I was confronted and asked to leave the congregation. I could have stayed and split the church body, but I chose not to do so. All of the progress in the movement of God stopped abruptly. Personal will replaced worship; selfishness replaced the spiritual; and anger replaced the love that had led the church to this point.

Many were devastated, including me.

What went wrong? For one thing, the traditions of men became more important than the movement of God. It seemed 36

being “Baptist” far exceeded the need for revival. Another factor was the personalities of the church family. Some church leaders seemed to do their best to destroy every change that had taken place over the six years that the church flourished and grew. Still worse was the nagging belief that God had been pushed out for the comfort of the “church life.” In the end, everyone was hurt in some way. The church lost its testimony and is still today a shell of the church it once was. Many new believers walked away from the church.

Still others became very cautious of close relationships with other church members and church leaders. Once again, the Spirit of revival had blown through but was short-lived because of human selfishness.

DIGGING IN Nothing could be worse than the loss of a church pastorate through forced termination; at least that was my thinking. I wondered how to support my family. I struggled with how to respond to friends, relatives, and fellow pastors regarding the incident. I struggled with “Baptists” as a denomination that would do such a thing to a pastor. I even questioned my call to ministry.

The truth was not yet known.

Little did I even know all that God had in store from this set of

circumstances. What God would instill in my heart would be far greater than the loss experienced from the church.

The provisions of God for those who want to walk with Him are phenomenal. God never failed to provide what was necessary. Scripture passages like Matthew 6:33, Philippians 4:19, and 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 became the normal way of living during this transitional time.

What did God teach? First, He instilled a love for His Word and for rightly dividing it before people. Emotion is one thing (and is necessary), but the sharing of the Word will last forever.

Second, He taught more of the Spirit-filled life, and He pulled back more of the self-life that seemed to be stagnating the continual spiritual flow in my life. Finally, He showed me how much He loved me and wanted to use me. Those days without a church to pastor are remembered as some of the most precious in my life.

One incident will suffice to emphasize this point. While pastoring another church about two years later, I was confronted with a haunting question. A lady from that community was writing a book about failure and wanted to include this particular story as one of the chapters. The names would be changed, but the incident would be as correct as possible. She sent a series of

questions to me for my analysis and response as she sought to understand what happened. One question seemed to surface from the list. “What could you have done differently in this circumstance to prevent the failure that took place?” Anger, frustration, and embarrassment gripped me as I pondered the question. I did not want to admit the answer!

I was not going to be wrong! It was not my fault! Yet through that particular question, God revealed my ever-present pride issue. Here it was again. Could it have been that the pride that had presented itself one way had now come back to present itself another way? The still small voice of the Spirit whispered, “God can never use a pridefilled individual in His plan or kingdom.” The sharp cutting of the knife sank deep into my soul and broke my heart. Revival would only come through submissive servant leadership. That was the desire of my heart in the first place. Why the continual struggle? The answer screamed out for all the world to hear, “SELF MUST DIE IF REVIVAL IS TO COME.”

GOING ON From that experience until this day, there has been an acute awareness of God’s hatred of pride. I have had the honor of serving another church as 37

pastor, a time as a minister of education, five years as an associate pastor in a church that had experienced revival, and the last fifteen years in a growing, caring, loving congregation that is continuing to take the Great Commission of our Lord seriously. I wish to share some of the truths experienced by this recent pastorate.

First, the love of the Word was so overwhelming that expositional preaching became the norm. Book by book, the study of God’s Word was unfolded before people who were willing to listen and respond. They had said they wanted spiritual leadership in a pastor and that they would follow that leadership.

That commitment continues to stand firm to this day.

Second, the love of people was shared through the shepherd model of ministry. Never should a pastor demand something of his congregation that he is not willing to model before them daily. The intensity of that model is contagious. The outcome is church growth and church health.

Third, the Great Commission was followed as this church family united to reach other communities at home and around the world.

Such unity created new church plants and mission trips. To date

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it has given six mission couples and two single units to the missionary effort around the world.

Finally, the ministry life of any congregation describes the heart of that congregation. Such ministry has marked this church as a loving group of believer’s intent on being in the battle for the hearts of men. Many acts of ministry are never known by the leadership but are done with care and diligence. The reputation of this congregation is strong in the community and among other church bodies. Our motto, “Until He Comes…Go,” has echoed throughout the classrooms, within the subdivisions, and around the world.

TAKING STOCK Now that the story has been told, the truths of revival can be gleaned from the experiences.

Describing truth from experience is neither easy nor solely academic. On the one hand, emotion cannot be denied in the assessment of the process. On the other hand, actions often speak louder than theological ambiguities. The intention is not to condemn but to encourage one another to search for revival principles and long for the movement of God’s Spirit in a more earnest way. May our precious Lord show us the difference.

WHAT BUILDS REVIVAL? Theological discussions and debate flourish in the midst of such questions. Yet the question must be asked if we distinguish revival principles from everyday experiences within God’s church. Answers come in many shapes and sizes, but the dynamics behind these answers must remain constant, consuming, and contagious. Looking at a few of these rehearsed in the crucible of experience should serve as a catalyst for every seeking soul reading these pages.

The Convicting Spirit of God That life-changing day in 1975 could be overlooked by some critics as a strict emotional response to a sermon. It could be built up into a doctrinal statement. In truth it was neither of these extremes. When one looks at the command of being filled with the Spirit, he should always realize that the process is biblical. The passage remains clear. The desire is that the power of God’s Spirit will work in and through anyone who is willing to be used. The experience of Pentecost bears witness to this truth. “What happened at Pentecost was not the commencement of a denomination but the coming of a mighty dynamic” (Taylor 14). As God’s Spirit filled these new believers, so must He fill us for the task

of revival and renewal among God’s people and church. What was seen in those small churches in north Mississippi that larger church in Memphis, Tennessee, and my present pastorate all point to a divine moment.

Robert Coleman wrote in his book One Divine Moment these definitive words about what happens when God moves in: There is no human vocabulary that can capture the full dimension of one divine moment.. In a way impossible to describe, God was in our midst.…” For anyone seeking revival in their life or church this must be their expectation. Once you have seen it in any degree you must see it again. (21)

The Powerful Spirit of God’s Word Manley Beasley spoke often in his revival meetings of “the alive word of God.” He often used Romans 10:17 for his text: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” For many of God’s people, the Bible is a good book. It is filled with truth. It has great principles to live by. It is inerrant, infallible, and indispensable in the process of renewal. No orthodox theology will do. Preaching and sharing of God’s Word must come from a fresh encounter with Christ by the preacher so that 39

he preaches with a fresh message straight from the throne of God himself. These last fifteen years of service in this present pastorate have proved that when people fall in love with God’s word in such a way as to make it come alive in their hearts, then everyone sees the movement of God more profoundly.

Days of sermons from Joshua, Nehemiah, and Ephesians birthed a desire in God’s church for a fresh victory. Studies in the Gospel of John, James, and Philippians stoked the fire of renewal. No one wanted to hear stories, news articles, or Reader’s Digest versions of positive living. Rather, the need and joy of God’s Word rang true in yearning hearts. God moved in with a new power and passion.

O.S. Hawkins wrote in When Revival Comes these powerful words: “Here is an accompanying characteristic of revival. The people of God will respect the Scriptures” (129). Believing, hopeful saints cry out, saying, “Lord, do it again.”

The Contagious Spirit of Worship Years of ministry pass quickly, and one tends to remember only what he wants to remember. The days of pastoral ministry in Corinth, Mississippi, proved to be some of the most refreshing days of my ministry.

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At the same time they stand out as the worst memories of my thirty-five years of full-time church service. I remember that it was the 1980s, and Bill Gaither had just hit the big time.

One of the first times the music minister sang a Bill Gaither song and used the “canned music” almost caused heart attacks within our congregation. Yet the refreshing was on its way. Most of the congregation loved to sing and learned new choruses gladly.

Hymns were still the center of musical worship, yet they even seemed sweeter as the church gathered week after week to see what God was going to do next.

When one of the deacon’s wives gave her heart to Jesus, it was obvious that God was moving across the worship services. The attendance grew, and the attention to genuine worship grew from one service to the next.

Henry Blackaby says, “When God speaks, no one is ever the same again” (Experiencing God devotional). It was happening!

During one of the revival services a middle-aged man came in the back doors of the church. He looked a little worse for wear but found a seat near the back of the congregation.

At the time of invitation, he came down the aisle in tears and reported this testimony. He had been driving through town and passed the road going to our church. Something compelled

him to turn and come to the services. He had left his wife that day and was not going to return to his family. His life was confused and battered by personal sin. He joyously received Jesus, and the last time he was seen, his vehicle was headed back toward Memphis, his wife, and a new life in Christ. Later he told me in a letter of their reunited marriage and God’s joy in their lives.

Another such incident took place at Longview Heights Baptist Church, my present pastorate. The year was 1996, and the occasion was a student-led revival. The student minister had persuaded the staff to have Ken Freeman come for a Sunday through Wednesday series of services. Ken’s reputation was that of being somewhat “controversial” in his preaching and teaching style. From Sunday morning through Wednesday night, the people came with a sense of anticipation for the moving of God. When the dust settled from these days, 137 first-time professions of faith had transpired. Homes had been changed. Lives were transformed from addictive practices. Both youth and adults sensed that God’s Spirit had moved among his people and church. The results can really never be told, for this church family has not gotten over that movement yet.

It catapulted this church into a

sense of the holiness and awesomeness of God from which it has never quite recovered.

Thank you Lord!

Questions abounded during these times. Arguments as to the validity of the salvations and other decisions seem to try to quench the fire of revival that had been experienced. Each one of us had an opinion. When you are there when it happens, you know it is God moving, and you want more. Such were the days when God chose to move, and we, the church, chose to listen to Him.

The Delightful Spirit of Outreach and Ministry Outreach is a direct result of the revived heart. This short statement defines without oversimplification one of the results of revival in God’s people. Why would anyone share about anything of which they were not excited. It usually does not happen. But when the contagious spirit of revival comes to a church body, the news reaches the ears of others. Above all, the “good news” reaches the ears and hearts of the unreached and unconverted. It happens in small churches like Whittentown Baptist Church, where the three deacons decided to stop at every house on their “road” and invite people to their church services one Sunday. These people had 41

lived in the community for years, and no one had ever stopped to invite them. The freshness of God’s Spirit moved these ordinary laymen to action. The Spirit of revival can move this way in any church family.

It happens in larger churches such as Leawood Baptist Church, where the youth choir would meet at the church, get on buses, and go to a neighboring church to sing and share testimonies as an outreach event for that particular congregation. Invitations would have been sent. Lost friends would be invited. The group would share and the glory of God would descend. Literally hundreds of young people had their lives changed by the outreach of Leawood while it was in revival.

On a more traditional level, one might take note of ministry programming such as “FAITH evangelism.” This process of systematic witness training, supervised witnessing activity, and energetic sharing and reporting times served well at Longview Heights Church. The people responded in numbers ranging from 75 to 120. They were excited because God’s Spirit was evident, and they wanted to know how to share their faith. For a period of over a year, someone was being saved every week. Even when the groups would return and no one reported a salvation experience, 42

the group would see someone coming forward on Sunday for salvation. The effort of obedience, whether spontaneous or systematic, never goes unheeded by the Holy Spirit. The revived revive others. Reports came of families in need, and the church responded. Many of the visiting teams would share personal resources with those in need.

Those who have been loved, love others when revival comes.

WHAT STOPS REVIVAL? Revival has always been, and will always be the sovereign work of God. Statements like this often lead to a sense of apathy about the subject because “you can’t do anything about it anyway.” But man has a responsibility. He must understand that though the movement of God is divine, his readiness for that movement often speeds or slows the process. Stephen Olford expressed it this way, “We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind of heaven when God chooses to blow on his people once again.”

Many times we are not ready because of barriers in our lives.

The ones shared below are prominent among God’s people.

Pride Proverbs 16:8 shouts to us from the Word, “When pride cometh, then cometh shame.…”

Slowing the process of God, losing a church position, and floundering in one’s spiritual growth tend to be solid reminders of missing God’s will. While all of us deal with “besetting sins” (Heb. 12:1), I have had to deal with pride. One’s belief about how important he is leads to a spirit of pride and arrogance.

When that is not quickly and sufficiently dealt with through repentance, then it costs more.

The loss of a church pastorate has thoroughly proven to me that to me that I cannot serve with pride in my life.

It can be said of most believers who deal with this matter that “Christians are too proud and too self-righteous to admit that they are proud and selfrighteous” (Spiritual Warfare).

Remembering how pride filled my life for so long breaks my heart today. May God’s Holy Spirit always move us from our self-sufficiency to His heartsufficiency.

Tradition Any group may rise up in any church at any time. I learned the hard way as I watched the status quo people squelch the moving of God’s Spirit to the point of removing me from office. Such people tend to lean heavily on their past and desire the days of “by-gone glory.”

They may couch it in terms of

“being Baptistic” or being afraid of “charismatic tendencies,” but however they voice it, the meaning is still the same. We want it to stay like it has always been.

Preferences in styles ranging from preachers to music to service times and baptistery curtain colors all tend to put out the fires of revival. Convictions must not change (if they are based in Scripture), but methodology and organization must constantly be evaluated in light of where the church is going and how it is reaching the community.

Anything less than this careful analysis is always going to dampen the work of revival.

Satisfaction Lewis Drummond stated, After years of renewal promotion most church members…still want a building that looks like a church, services of the kind they are accustomed to, a clergyman dressed in the way they approve, and to be left alone.

Somehow, renewal has simply missed the bulk of God’s people.

And that is the prime problem!

(Drummond, 31) Whether by staying traditional or contemporary, King James only or Message, dressy or casual, cell group or Sunday School, every individual seems to hang on to their sense of what church is and what revival must 43

look like if it is accepted in the church they attend. How often we sit in our sanctified rows and judge while the world longs to be freed from its shackles. Jesus said his mission was to “set the captives free.” That seems an impossible task when we in the pew are the captives. May we be delivered from ourselves so that the power of Christ may really rest upon us and the presence of Christ may be seen in our churches, homes, and lifestyles.

Prayerlessness Scripture abounds with admonitions to pray. One of the problems that most pastors encounter today is the “tyranny of the urgent.” Someone is in the hospital. Someone else has to have counseling right now.

Administration must be done.

Committees meet and decide to meet again and again over the same material. No wonder pastors quit and go to other businesses to make their living.

What happened to time alone with God? It has either been assumed that God would work, or He has been overlooked on our Daytimers and Palm Pilots.

Squeezing out the essentials has been the cause of many churches losing that sense of awe, reverence, and urgency in their mission and ministry. Jeremiah 33:3 is still very simple. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and 44

show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” How many times in ministry have I missed the powerful movement of God because I failed to pray earnestly, expectantly, and intensely over people, programs, personnel, and problems? C. Peter Wagner wrote, “I’m personally convinced that the following statement is true: The most under-utilized source of spiritual power in the churches today is intercession for believers” (Prayer Shield, John Maxwell). How great it would be if God’s people would take Him at His word and put themselves in the place of revival through their prayer lives.

CEO Mentality In looking at my present pastorate I find that one of the greatest struggles facing a growing church is the “business” mentality. One must know and appreciate the administrators who dot every “i” and cross every “t” so that the professional side of ministry is accomplished.

However, it seems the shepherd model of ministry is being diminished with the onslaught of CEO’s who happen to be preachers. Perhaps I have missed something about true revival, but I sense very strongly that “People Matter to God.” This slogan marks Longview Heights Baptist Church and has kept

us seeking the wind of God’s Spirit in revival and renewal.

Every time that we move away from this personal, realistic, ministry-based servant model we are able to chart the decline of attendance, membership, guests, and finances. I know that none of these constitute the presence of God but only serve as adequate barometers of the shepherd/sheep fellowship. Robert Coleman writes in The Master Plan of Evangelism these potent words, “By demonstrating His teaching (through servanthood) Jesus showed the disciples the differences in His actual ministry and their perception of His ministry” (Coleman, 82).

Since Jesus stressed it so clearly, should each of us not examine the validity of servant ministry in the search for true revival?

CONCLUSION As a pastor I have only tasted of true revival. The “hard knocks” of ministry have proven capable teachers. Only in the power of God is there any hope of the renewal of God’s church.

Regrets abound in this journey called spiritual maturity.

Mistakes litter the pathway, and personal failures mark the trail.

Yet, there is hope in repentance and faith. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Heb. 11:6). It may seem hopeless in your particular life or ministry, but it is not.

The hope is still alive. An old volume from my personal library reminds us of the quest we are after. Elvis Marcum writes in Outreach: God’s Miracle Business a synopsis of what every pastor longs to see, sense, feel, touch, and enjoy: “Our people have dared to stand on the frontier of faith, they have discovered the wonder of God’s provisions, they have been overwhelmed by the glory of the impossible, and they live with a sense of delight in the unusual” (24). May it never be said of God’s people that we gave up on revival. Learn from mistakes and repent of disobediences. Pray with me, “Lord, do it again.”

SOURCES Blackaby, Henry, and Richard Blackaby. Experiencing God: Day by Day. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1980.

Blackaby, Henry, and Claude V. King. Experiencing God. Nashville: Broadman andHolman Publishers, 1994.

Coleman, Robert E. One Divine Moment. Anniversary Ed. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1995.

Drummond, Lewis A. The Awakening That Must Come.

Nashville: Broadman Press, 1978.

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Hawkins, O. S., and Jack Taylor. When Revival Comes.

Nashville: Broadman Press, 1980.

Lawless, Chuck, and John Franklin. Spiritual Warfare: Biblical Truth for Victory.

Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1996.

Marcum, Elvis. Outreach: God’s Miracle Business. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1975.

Maxwell, John. Partners in Prayer. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996.

Olford, Stephen F. Lord, Open the Heavens. Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1980.

Taylor, Jack. After the Spirit Comes. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1974.

Wayne Marshall has pastored four churches in Mississippi. He has been the pastor at Longview Height Baptist Church in Olive Branch for 15 years.

The church has grown from 175 to over 1200 in Sunday School. He has a D.Min from Luther Rice Seminary.

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Manley Beasley, Man of Faith, Instrument of Revival

by Ron Owens

The story of the life and message of Manley Beasley could not be more timely than for the challenging days in which we live.

Brother Manley, as he was known by the many whose lives he impacted, set a standard for the faith walk and for dealing with adversity that not too many reach. However, this standard should be a goal that all believers press toward. His was not an “ivory tower” message. It was a message forged in the foundry of experience—the terminal diseases he carried in his body for years, the months in intensive care, and the financial challenges that only God could solve. Then, and then only, was what he learned passed on through his preaching, his writing and his interacting with people in the myriad of ways he was used of God to minister.

The record of a person’s life can end up being not much more than history if not fleshed out by those with whom that person interacted and those he influenced. In facing the challenge of putting a life like Bro. Manley’s on paper, I decided that it would be best approached from three angles: 1. Biography: the actual history of his life.

2. Testimony: the firsthand witness of those who would never be quite the same after having encountered Manley on their journey.

3. Message: the walk of faith, dealing with adversity, prayer, and revival.

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Biography Bro. Manley’s early years were not dissimilar to those of other men and women of God who tried their best to run away from Him. Due to his being dyslectic, a condition not yet diagnosed in his day, he was thought to be “stupid” and was even assured by one of his teachers that he would never amount to anything. This led to years of rebellion, in and out of jail, until at the age of 14 he lied about his age and joined the Merchant Marines to live the life of a sailor.

By age 16 he had circumnavigated the globe twice. He once missed his ship’s departure in a Japanese port due to his being inebriated and had to wait three months for its return.

Meanwhile, God was following this wayward child around the world and would, in a most unusual way, answer the prayers of his mother, Vera May. God had given her a promise when Manley was but a baby, that he would one day be a preacher.

Suddenly, while waiting in the Port of New Orleans for a ship to take him back to the Orient, after having spent a tumultuous week’s leave at home, he was overcome with the urge to return to his home in Port Neches, Texas. This came just as his mother and her pastor were on their knees crying out to God for His intervention in Manley’s life.

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In God’s providence, when he reached home, a youth-led revival was being held at the First Baptist Church. Though Manley had not darkened the doors of any church in years, he was persuaded to attend a Saturday morning breakfast where his first cousin, W. C. Beasley, a decorated WWII hero was to give his testimony. That morning, Manley recalled, his heart began to change as God drew this prodigal to Himself.

The next day, Sunday, the prayers of his mother were answered as she watched her boy publicly respond to God’s invitation to repent of his sin, to make an about face, and to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

It would not be long before this most unlikely candidate, this teenager who could barely read or write, would again walk that aisle—this time to surrender his life to be a preacher.

The miracles continued as God’s plan unfolded. The impossible became possible as doors were opened for his education. God then brought a helpmate into his life, and lifelong friends were added to his new world. He began to preach, and he then pastored a church for four years that would grow from a membership of 45 to almost 500. Most of the new converts were personally led to the Lord by Manley.

It was during this period that God began to burden his

heart for the spiritual needs of the American church and for the nation itself. It was also during this time that Manley began to grow in his understanding of the role prayer played in God’s economy. This would lead him to spend entire nights on his knees and eventually, to follow God’s call into an itinerate ministry.

Then, after 20 years of highly successful preaching all across the South, his world, and that of his family, was turned upside down when he suddenly became ill with three terminal diseases.

Rather than accepting this as the end, the next 20 years (during which he was in and out of hospitals, intensive care units, and on dialysis) became his years of greatest ministry. God brought him to the end of himself and began to teach him what it really meant to walk by faith. During this time of great struggle, he learned lessons about dealing with adversity that have brought hope to countless thousands as they not only heard him talk about it but they also saw him live out the sufficiency of Christ in every situation of life.

Testimony Jimmy Robertson, director of Milldale Bible Conference, Zachary, Louisiana: “One of the most important lessons on prayer that Bro. Manley taught me during the years in which he and his

family lived with us at Milldale was that, when you were praying about a specific matter, to persevere in prayer until you have the answer ‘in your hand or in your heart.’”

“The first time I had Manley in my church for a meeting, after the service he announced that we were going to stay at the church to pray. We prayed until 1:00 a.m. The next morning at 5:00, I heard a knock on my door, and there stood Manley. I said: ‘Is there an emergency?’ He said: ‘There sure is. We need to pray.’

We went back to the church and prayed until noon. That was the beginning of a glorious revival in our church and community.”

“The third day of that meeting, Manley wrote something on a piece of paper, sealed it in an envelope, and said: ‘Put this in your Bible, then read it after I am gone.’ He had written down everything he was trusting God to do in that meeting, and I tell you, it was exactly what happened. I wasn’t used to that. I had always preached and hoped that something would happen. I would pray and hope to get an answer some day. Not so with Bro. Manley. He would keep a matter before the Lord, sometimes over a period of months, until he had the answer in his hand or in his heart. And once he had it in his heart, he had the assurance that one day it would be in his hand.”

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Tom Elliff, author, former pastor, and missionary: “Bro. Manley possessed a remarkable capacity for communicating and illustrating out of his own life that faith is made complete by the volitional choice to act in obedience to God’s revealed will.

Citing the example of those on the roll call of faith (Heb. 11), he would remind his hearers that faith was not simply a matter of thinking or of feeling, but acting in obedience to God’s Word.

He was fond of reminding his listeners that sometimes believers must ‘act as if it is so, when it is not so, in order for it to be so, because God says it is so.’”

“Brother Manley’s message of faith never changed, but this preacher’s life was changed as I began learning what it means to walk by faith. Long ago, someone commented that every man is a product of the books he reads and the friends he keeps.

Manley was both a mentor and a friend who willingly allowed me the privilege of drawing wisdom from the book of his life.”

J. L. (Skeet) May, businessman, Memphis, Tennessee: “Meeting Bro. Manley redefined my whole life. I had gone into business on my own in 1969.

When I met him I was in the process of expanding it, and Bro. Manley changed my whole outlook on how to run a business.

Some of my peers couldn’t figure it out. They thought I was crazy 50

when I talked about trusting the Lord. They accused me of not being willing to get out there and do what it takes to be a success.”

“Whenever Bro. Manley was in the Memphis area he would stay in our home, and on one of these occasions two pastors who were struggling in their ministries asked if they might spend some time with him, so we invited them over for breakfast. After some small talk Manley asked, ‘Brothers, what seems to be going on?’ They both began telling him about problems they were facing in their churches, and when they finished Manley said: ‘Well, what do you think the Lord is saying?’

One of them replied, ‘I think that maybe the Lord wants me to get out of the ministry; what do you think?’ Very matter-of-factly, Bro. Manley replied: ‘You know, that’s exactly what I think you should do.’ The pastor, a little shocked at Manley’s response, said: ‘Do you really think so?’ ‘Yes sir, if you feel that you can leave the ministry that is exactly what you should do, because if God has called you would not be able to do it.’”

“Bro. Manley then began ministering to that pastor, explaining that if God had called him, he needed to recognize where the warfare was coming from and resist the attempts of the devil to discourage and defeat him. He needed to start believing what God said and not what the enemy was saying. To

God’s glory, those two pastors walked out of our home that morning with their batteries recharged. Manley hadn’t tried to give either of them a particular answer to the problems they were facing; he just pointed them to Jesus.”

Morris Chapman, president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee: “Every time I think of Bro. Manley, Hebrews 11:6 comes to mind: ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God.’ At the beginning of my Christian life, at the age of 28, Manley’s message of faith and revival gave clear direction to my spiritual journey. Never had I seen strength made more perfect in weakness than through his physical weakness. I recall his reminding me that when you come to the end of yourself, God is ready to use you. For many of us he has been our pastor and our prophet. His godly wisdom has helped us through dark days in our professional and personal lives.”

Manley’s Message From a message on prayer: “When I say praying something through, what does that mean to you, or when I just say praying, what does that mean to you?

Sometimes a preacher will say to me, ‘Bro. Manley, we had a great prayer meeting.’ I’ll then ask him, ‘what did you say to God?’ And he will tell me. Then I’ll ask, ‘What

did God say to you?’ That confuses people. You see, if what you have said to God has not caused God to say something to you, there is no communion; so, have you really prayed? Prayer is more than a one-way conversation.

“One of the most encouraging words I have ever received in my life came from my pastor who ordained me. He knew about my past. He knew that, because of my dyslexia, I had not been able to read and write as a young teenager. He knew I had dropped out of school in the 7th grade because I had been under so much pressure that I was about to go all to pieces. He knew how my mother, by the wisdom of God, let me join the Merchant Marines to travel all over the world. But my pastor also knew the power of prayer.

When I was wondering how I was going to make it, he told me, ‘Manley, whatever lack you have in life, if you are doing what God calls you to do, prayer will make it up.’ I determined from that point on, for whatever issue I faced in life, I would stay on my knees until I had an answer in my hand or in my heart.”

From a message on faith: “Faith has such a unique place in the Bible and is so tied to the whole economy of God, that until a person arrives at the place where he knows how to believe God actively, he will never become a mature Christian. The 51

Bible declares, ‘The just shall live by faith’ (Heb. 10:38). Though most Christians are familiar with this verse, it still remains one of the most misunderstood statements in Scripture. An understanding of what this means, however, is fundamental to everything else in the Christian’s life, because the Bible also says: ‘without faith it is impossible to please God’ (Heb. 11:6).”

“One of the reasons for misunderstanding this fundamental requirement to please God is the ‘easy believism’ prevalent in today’s churches. Many have the idea that mental assent to certain historical facts is all that is needed; therefore, the repeating of certain words or the signing of a commitment card is all that one has to do to begin the walk of faith. Others think that an emotional experience confirms they have begun this walk. These are not wrong in themselves, but genuine faith is more than a mental assent or an emotional experience. It is the inward response to truth that has been revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit, who quickens and makes our spirit alive.”

“Now, there are three basic types of faith: The grace of faith, the gift of faith, and the impartation of faith. Faith can never go beyond the revelation of truth to the heart. When the Holy Spirit illumines our minds and hearts regarding a particular matter, 52

we are given the ability to trust the Lord Jesus to the measure of light that has been revealed.”

“The grace of faith is the God-given ability to convert truth into reality and receive a word from God for a particular need. The Bible says, ‘faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God’ (Rom. 10:17).

As the grace of faith is operative in our salvation, so it continues to be operative in the daily choices and circumstances of life from that point forward.

The gift of faith comes and goes according to the will of God. It manifests itself when and where God wishes it to, and when it does there is no question as to what God’s will is. We just know. We have the assurance and witness of the Holy Spirit.

This assurance is so real that we have no problem in confessing what God has already accomplished.

“The impartation of faith is the highest form of faith. In Galatians 2:20, the Apostle Paul says that the life he lived was being lived by ‘the faith of the Son of God.’ Paul had arrived at the place where he knew that in his own strength he was absolutely helpless and in that state of helplessness the Lord Jesus had become his very life and faith.

This is God’s desire for each of us—that we come to the point of recognizing our own inadequacy so that the life of the Lord Jesus

can become the daily source and supply of our lives. It is this kind of faith that sustained me in the midst of my worst periods of sickness, when I did not have the strength to use the grace of faith, nor had the gift of faith operating in my life for that situation. I turned to God and asked Him to grant me the kind of faith the Apostle Paul had. I prayed: ‘Father, will you give me the faith of the Lord Jesus to be my very own faith.’ In a matter of days I received a measure of faith beyond anything I had ever experienced. I was given the full assurance that the life I was living was not my life but that of the Lord Jesus.”

As Manley drew nearer to his home going, he became increasingly aware that his time was limited, and he would not let anything interfere with his preaching commitments.

One such commitment was at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. This particular engagement involved Manley’s leaving his hospital bed over the strong protests of his doctor and flying from Dallas to Memphis to preach, after which he returned to Dallas and back to his hospital bed.

The message he delivered that day, with hardly the strength to stand, was one of the most powerful sermons Manley ever preached on the condition of the Laodicean Church. As he likened

the church in Revelation 3 to the condition of many churches today, he admonished his listeners not to be deceived by how things look outwardly, but to examine themselves in light of God’s standard of righteousness.

“The need of the hour is to see ourselves as we really are, for no man will ever change until he sees himself as he really is. No sinner is ever saved until he sees himself a sinner. No saint ever goes from victory to victory until he sees himself in light of God’s glory.”

Manley went on to challenge those who had ears to hear to buy gold tried in the fire; to buy white robes so that the holiness and glory of God would again be the defining mark of God’s people; to buy eye salve, a picture of eyes anointed by the Holy Spirit, so that God’s children might see as the Lord Jesus sees. “This,” Manley said, “is one of the great needs of the hour—that we might see sinners as Jesus sees them; that we might have eyes to see the will of God as it is happening in heaven; that we might embrace it and move heaven into earth.”

Rising again from his hospital bed, Manley would go on to preach at the Southern Baptist Pastor’s Conference in New Orleans, just 17 days before his spirit would take its flight homeward. His Celebration Service, held at First Baptist, Euless, Texas, concluded with a message from Philippians 1:21-24 by 53

Adrian Rogers. “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain . . .”

“I would love to have been an angel standing around when Manley arrived in heaven the other day, as he looked into the face of Jesus for the first time.

So many times we’ve been praying, ‘Lord, let him stay.’ But there has been another who has been praying, ‘Father, I pray for them whom you have given to me, that they may be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, the glory that I had with you before the world began.’ Do you know what Bro. Manley is doing right now? He is beholding that glory.

Think of it. He is beholding that glory! ‘For to me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.’ Farewell for a while, Manley. We’ll see you in the morning.”

Ron Owens has a multi-faceted ministry, including teaching, preaching, and music primarily in North America and Eastern and Western Europe.

He has authored several books in addition to the Manley Beasley biography, and he is a former associate to Dr. Henry Blackaby. He has composed, recorded and had published many songs in collaboration with his wife, Patricia.

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The Evidence of Real Revival

by Wade Akins

When one speaks of revival, the usual connotation is people confessing their sins in a public setting and seeing God work in their lives in a deeper way.

A personal friend of mine experienced this type of revival among missionaries on the mission field.

The missionaries had all kinds of inner conflicts among themselves. Then, one night in a worship service, one stood up and confessed his bad attitude toward others and asked for forgiveness. This sparked a series of confessions, and as a result, the mission experienced a real revival.

Upon hearing this, I rejoice, because this was a spontaneous work of God in their hearts and lives. However, I have seen on at least two other occasions when this type of revival among missionaries appeared to be sparked, in my opinion, by manipulation.

Once, in a mission meeting in Brazil, our speaker set up microphones at the front of the room prior to the service. He preached on confession and then asked missionaries to come forward and confess their sins and bad attitudes. I have to confess it turned my stomach upside down. I witnessed a false revival and saw people get really damaged and hurt.

One case in point was when a missionary stood up and confessed he had a bad attitude against another missionary who was in charge of all social ministry in our nation. He had submitted a project to her, and she refused to send it to Richmond for approval. This made him angry, and he held a grudge 55

against her for many years. So, in the mission meeting he stood before the entire mission and confessed his sin of anger.

However, what he did not say was her side of the story. She refused to submit the project to Richmond for approval because he did not fill out all the forms properly. So, she returned them to him and explained to him exactly what he needed to do in order to make the project presentable for approval by the leadership at the International Mission Board Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. She never got the project back from him, and for this reason she could not submit the project.

However, after his public confession of his sin of anger, it made it appear that she was the cause of his issue, when in reality she did everything she could do to help him. She was deeply hurt after his confession which implicated her as a guilty party.

There was nothing she could do in that public setting unless she wanted to stand before the entire mission and explain her side and create even more of a problem.

Yet, the guest speaker thought we were having a real “revival.” In essence, however, we were not experiencing real revival but a false one based on a public manipulation of confessions of sins.

Personally, I experienced this the hard way once in my minis56

try. I was in the Washington D.C. area as a guest speaker in a local church. I preached on “secret sins” that morning. After the message, the music director came to the platform and asked the pastor if she could have a word.

She was also the youth director and a leader in the church.

The pastor gave her permission, and she stood in the pulpit and confessed that she was having an affair with one of the deacons.

All the deacons sitting there said, “It is not me.” This brought a shock to the entire congregation and caused a long-term disruption. So, my rule of thumb now is that a sin should be confessed as far as the circle of people it actually affects and not in a public way unless it affects the entire public.

Having experienced this I would like to suggest that there is another way of measuring the evidence of a real revival, and that would be the conversion of lost souls to Christ. When people get right with God (which is what revival actually is), then the result will be evangelism that results in winning lost souls to Christ.

Two and a half years ago my wife, Barbara, and I went with two Pioneer Evangelism teams from Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis to Northern Tanzania.

Pioneer Evangelism is an evangelism and discipleship training strategy that results in churches being started.

We trained 210 pastors and leaders. The participants were well trained in teaching lost people the gospel using the Storying method. We used a booklet based on the Gospel of Matthew that teaches the entire life of Christ, and in the process it teaches how to become a true disciple of Christ. We did not push them for a quick decision.

The Pioneer Evangelism Coordinator in Tanzania is a man named Peter. Peter and the Baptist pastors divided the northern zone of Tanzania into three subregions. Since our work there, he sends us monthly reports on church growth seen in the region. In the past 2½ years, they have started 170 new congregations and baptized over 6,000 new converts in Region I. Now, I call that a real revival.

In the first two months of 2009, they have baptized 171 new converts, and they are preparing another 531 new believers in Region II to be baptized. They have 1,186 people now studying the Good News booklet.

Barbara, my wife, teaches a special course, “Showing God’s Love in a Practical Way by Doing Acts of Kindness.” She teaches the participants how to do this in order to find lost people who would be willing to have a Good News study in their homes.

Peter from Tanzania wrote to me this month with the following testimony:

One man received Christ as his personal Savior as a result of the practical love shown him through the Good News group.

This group was meeting next door to his house. His wife was sick, and he had no one to help him take her to the hospital. One of the men in the Good News group had a bicycle. He and two other men and a teenager accompanied this couple to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital, the man had no money to pay the bill. So, the three men contributed and paid the bill for him. The next week this couple went to the Good News study with their children.

I strongly believe that if he continues in the study he will come to know Christ. How did this happen? It happened because men and women have had a revival in their hearts; they have a desire to reach out to the lost, and they have been well trained in how to do that.

In another instance Peter writes, A witch doctor got saved in our Good News studies. We invited him and his entire family to the study. After two weeks of visiting us, he said that he would like to know how to receive Christ as his Lord and Savior. He said that they started praying before going to bed.

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The evangelist said that the Holy Spirit was convicting the witch doctor, and now he is saved and in the discipleship class. So, how does this happen—from witchdoctor to a believer in the Great Physican, Jesus Christ? It happens because a real revival is going in on the hearts of believers in Northern Tanzania which is resulting in the salvation of lost souls.

We are also working in a state in India. This state has a heavy population of radical Hindus and Muslims. It is not the harvest field that we see in Tanzania. Yet, we have been going there for the past several years doing the Pioneer Evangelism training. We are now beginning to see incredible results. The leaders there have a deep desire to win the lost to Christ at all cost. They pay a great price.

One church planter came to our training last year with one hand. Radical Hindus threw a bomb at him; he reached out to deflect it, and it blew his hand off. He said, “They will have to kill me before I stop telling them about Jesus.” Now, that is true revival.

A new convert recently wrote, I am from a Hindu family. From childhood I have worshipped idols. I became addicted to alcohol and led a bad life. One day 58

I met a God-fearing evangelist who asked me some spiritual questions. He told me that God loves me even though I drink. He told me that God wants to live in my heart. I joined the Good News class, and after the second lesson I received Christ as my Lord and Savior. I have been baptized, and I am now following Christ as my Lord and sharing the gospel with others.

Are they not in revival? I have many such testimonies from these leaders who are paying a great price to share the gospel. Yes, revival has come to their hearts, and because of a true heart-felt revival, they are out witnessing, evangelizing, and making disciples. I believe this is the true evidence of real revival.

Some revivals result in confession of sin and people getting right with both God and man—and that is the end of it.

Other revivals can be quiet ones in the heart, where a person just gets right with God, and the Holy Spirit puts a fire in his soul to win the lost world to Christ.

This is the evidence of a real revival. One can have a white dove to come down and light on his head, but if he is not burdened for the lost and reaching out to them, I question if he really did experience a deep heartfelt revival. A real revival will not just be internal, but it will also have an external affect.

Real revival is expressed in Isaiah 61:1-2, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (NIV).

Dr. Thomas Wade Akins was a missionary with the International Mission Board for over two decades. He recently retired from the IMB and now serves around the world through Pioneer Missions. He and his wife, Barbara, serve as Global trainers who train nationals to start new churches. Dr. Akins has a D.Min. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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60

An Analysis of the Three Great Revivals in Korea

By Mike Morris

Revivals have played a large role in the history of Protestant Christianity in Korea.

It is common in the United States to hear about the “Korean Revival� as if it can be assumed that the revival continues to this day. Although the Korean Revival is over, many Korean believers still pray for revival to come back to their land once more.

INTRODUCTION I served as an International Mission Board missionary to South Korea from 1996 to 2006.

Upon arrival in South Korea, I was expecting to find a harvest field. However, during my church planting and evangelistic activities, I noticed that South Korea, generally speaking, was no longer a harvest field. From conversations with Christians in Korea I learned that church

planting and evangelism were much more difficult during my time there than during previous times. Like many Americans, many South Koreans had developed a consumer mindset in regard to Christianity and church life. In other words, many Christians in both places are concerned with what they can get now in return for their service at a local church. I strongly feel that Christians in both America and South Korea currently need revival.

In January of 2007, Korean Christians celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first great revival in Korea. Three great revivals played major roles in the history of Protestant Christianity in Korea. These great revivals 61

conformed to the pattern described in other countries, both in terms of commonly cited causes (e.g., sovereign actions of God, major social upheavals, and persistent prayer) and effects (e.g., purification of Christians and conversion of non-Christians). Another such revival is certainly needed in South Korea as evidenced by the recent decline in the percentage of Protestants/Evangelicals there.

THE FIRST REVIVAL The first great revival, which began in 1895, came in the middle of a large people movement to Christ. Remarkably, this people movement began just ten years after the first Protestant/Evangelical missionaries arrived to live in Korea. (The Presbyterians and Methodists had the major missionary presence at this time.

Northern Baptists had a small presence. The first Southern Baptist resident missionaries arrived in 1950.) The epicenter of the people movement was in what is now North Korea. The city of Pyongyang, which is now the capital of North Korea, was considered to be the “Jerusalem of the Orient,� and the revival had its climactic explosion in the largest church in Pyongyang in January of 1907. Some of the Koreans had walked a hundred miles to the church, and the 62

church was filled with 1500 people during the evening meetings.

James Edwin Orr explained that the first Korean revival came in three waves that positively affected church growth: The Korean Revival of 19031908 had its full effect upon church growth in Korea. From 1895 onwards, there was a significant ingathering in both Methodist and Presbyterian fields of a folk who were to become the subjects of reviving. In 1903, not only were some congregations revived but an acceleration of church growth occurred—seen clearly in any graph. This continued steadily through the second phase of revival in 1905-1906, then sharply accelerated again in 1907 as a result of the third phase of revival, which continued till the programmed Million Souls Movement, after which growth of the Christian community declined and that of communicants decelerated for a few years (1975, 32).

Although church growth had occurred prior to the first great revival, the regenerate status of some people attending the churches was suspect (Orr, 26). The early missionaries in Korea recognized the problem of biblically ignorant people in the churches, and they tried to solve it by means of Bible classes. The missionaries desired revival for

the Koreans after experiencing it themselves at Bible conferences beginning in 1903 (Paik, 1970, 367-368).

God used both social and spiritual factors to bring a great revival to the Korean people.

George Thompson Brown stressed the primacy of the spiritual factor in the revival: “Korea has had similar periods of uncertainty and change with no corresponding increase in spiritual receptivity. The Holy Spirit was at work in Korea” (1962, 58).

Sometimes the news of revivals in other countries helps to trigger a revival. Such was the case in Korea in 1906 as Rev. Howard Agnew Johnson of New York told the Korean Christians in Pyongyang about the recent revivals in Wales and India. The Koreans wanted to have a similar experience. Johnson had met Evan Roberts, the best-known figure of the 1904-05 Welsh revival, and Johnson had “questioned him in detail about the secret of the revival” (Bay, 2007, 5).

William Blair gave an eyewitness account of the key service during the climactic 1907 phase of the first revival:

ence began to pray out loud, all together. The effect was indescribable—not confusion, but a vast harmony of sound and spirit, a mingling together of souls moved by an irresistible impulse of prayer. The prayer sounded to me like the falling of many waters, an ocean of prayer beating against God’s throne. . . .

As the prayer continued, a spirit of heaviness and sorrow for sin came down upon the audience. Over on one side, someone began to weep, and in a moment the whole audience was weeping. . . . Only a few of the missionaries were present on that Monday night. . . . I wish to describe the Tuesday night meeting in my own language because a part of what happened concerned me personally. . . . Then began a meeting the like of which I had never seen before, nor wish to see again unless in God’s sight it is absolutely necessary. Every sin a human being can commit was publicly confessed that night. Pale and trembling with emotion, in agony of mind and body, guilty souls, standing in the white light of that judgment, saw themselves as God saw them (1977, 71-74).

After a short sermon, Mr. Lee took charge of the meeting and called for prayers. So many began praying that Mr. Lee said, “If you want to pray like that, all pray,” and the whole audi-

Today, South Korean Christians continue to pray simultaneously (out loud) during worship services in Protestant/Evangelical churches.

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The first Korean revival had a good effect on evangelism and church growth. Church membership quadrupled between 1903 and 1908 (Moffett, 1973, 11). The climactic Pyongyang revival phase affected the entire Korean peninsula (Blair, 1977, 75). The emphasis on evangelism has continued for a hundred years in Protestant churches in Korea, and steady growth in the percentage of Christians in the population has continued until the last fifteen years.

THE SECOND REVIVAL A second great revival occurred between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Korean War. This revival occurred primarily in North Korea in 1947. It began with 40 pastors praying in Pyongyang, and it spread to their churches. Many conversions resulted from the revival, including a thousand students at Kim Il-Sung University (Orr, 1975, 111). Again, God answered the prayers of the believers, and they received spiritual power. This revival affected evangelism in a positive way.

Many Christians in North Korea escaped to South Korea during this time. This infusion invigorated the churches in South Korea: “The churchgovernment clash in the North and later the Korean War 64

produced a huge migration of Christians to the South and contributed to the explosive growth of Protestantism there� (ChungShin Park, 2003, 166). Since this relocation of Christians and the resulting revival that followed, Christians in North Korea have undergone great persecution.

THE THIRD REVIVAL A third great revival occurred in the 1970s in South Korea.

Eunsik Cho explained that the social conditions of the time were a factor in the revival: As we have seen in the details of the Great Revival of 1907 and the church growth of the 1970s, these two events have common aspects: political and social unrest. In the early 1900s, the Korean people had experienced national misfortune and Japanese political interference. . . . They felt a sense of crisis and were anxious about the political situation. In the 1970s, the dictatorship of the military government was strongly oppressing people. . . . This made people feel uneasy and pressured (1998, 298).

Paradoxically, Park said that the repressive government used the large meetings and well-known evangelists such as Billy Graham and Bill Bright to further its own purposes (2003, 185).

The epicenter of the revival movement during the 1970s was a large airfield tarmac in the middle of Seoul on an island in the Han River. This large tarmac was known as Yoido Plaza, and it was not far from the Yoido Full Gospel Church headquarters building, a church that is considered to have the largest membership in the world. The tarmac was removed about ten years ago to make room for a park. Billy Graham conducted an evangelistic crusade in 1973 on the tarmac, and the crusade “closed with one million people at one meeting” (Doh, 1994, 82-83).

Han Ho Doh, the president of the Korea Baptist Seminary, explained that Campus Crusade’s Explo ’74 “developed into a mass revival movement” and that the conference “brought tremendous numerical growth” (1994, 85).

Orr said that attendance at some Explo ’74 rallies was in excess of a million people (1975, 119).

The revival continued during the 1970s. A world evangelization crusade began in 1977. This crusade involved 178 revival speakers and over 90 percent of the 18,000 local churches in South Korea. However, the epicenter continued to be in Seoul: “Each evening, over two million people gathered on the Yoido plaza. . . . beside the numerical growth and the number of persons in attendance, the meeting was a spiritual turning point for

Korean Christianity” (Doh, 1994, 86-87).

THE CURRENT NEED Recently, Protestant/evangelical Christians have declined as a percentage of the population. During the ten-year period from 1995 to 2005, Protestants decreased from 19.7% to 18.3% (Spero News, 2009). YoungGi Hong, the president of the Institute for Church Growth in Korea, explained that the decline has not come from lack of evangelistic effort by Protestants: “Regardless of the fact that Protestantism has eagerly evangelized, it is in a stagnant condition” (2006, 226). The South Korean culture has changed and is now less receptive to the gospel.

One factor in the culture’s decline in gospel receptivity could be a rise in materialism.

South Korea has become quite prosperous in the past few decades: “Three decades ago GDP per capita was comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia. Today its GDP per capita is seven times India’s, 16 times North Korea’s, and comparable to the lesser economies of the European Union” (Handbook of the Nations, 2002, 277). Associated with materialism may be the rise of prosperity teaching in the Protestant churches: “According 65

to the 1997 Gallup Korea survey, nearly 40 percent of the Protestant community indicated the belief that those who contribute money to the church will be blessed by more prosperity in return for their giving” (Connor, 2002, 189). A second factor could be the rise of postmodernism in South Korean culture.

South Korean Christians must make adjustments in their evangelistic methodology to react to the changing culture in which they live. The South Korean Christians find themselves in the same situation as American Christians. Both groups need a great revival to stimulate effective evangelism in their cultures.

CONCLUSION As seen, many social and political factors were influential in the three major revival movements in Korea, but these factors cannot be viewed as completely unspiritual. God can manipulate social and political factors to suit His purposes. Obvious spiritual factors were also influential in the revivals. Prayer and Bible study were in evidence as people sought revival. As a result, God caused intense conviction of sin, and revived people felt great joy as their burden of sin was relieved. God used the revivals to instill courage and purity, and the revivals prepared the people to be effective Christian witness66

es in their spheres of influence.

When many people think of South Korea, they think of church growth and revival. Just as Southern Baptists in America have roots in great revival movements, so do Protestants/ Evangelicals in South Korea.

The church growth and revival, however, have vanished in South Korea, and few people seem to know it. South Korea, like America, needs a great revival.

SOURCES Bay, Bonjour. “The Pyongyang Great Revival in Korea and Spirit Baptism.” Evangelical Review of Theology 31, no. 1 (January 2007): 4-16.

Blair, William Newton, and Bruce F. Hunt. The Korean Pentecost and the Sufferings Which Followed. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1977.

Brown, George Thompson.

Mission to Korea. Nashville: Rich Printing Company, 1962.

Cho, Eunsik. “The Great Revival of 1907 in Korea: Its Cause and Effect.” Missiology: An International Review 26, no.

3 (July 1998): 289-300.

Connor, Mary E. The Koreas: A Global Studies Handbook.

Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2002.

Park, Chung-Shin. Protestantism and Politics in Korea. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003.

Doh, Han Ho. “An Historical and Theological Analysis of the Charismatic Movement in Korea.” Ph.D. diss., MidAmerica Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994.

Spero News. “Catholicism grows in South Korea.” 27 June 2006. http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idC ategory=33&idsub=122&id =4205&t=Catholicis m+grows+in+South+Korea (accessed 23 February 2009).

Handbook of the Nations. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 2002.

Moffett, Samuel H. “What Makes the Korean Church Grow?” Christianity Today 18, no. 4 (November 23, 1973): 10-12.

Orr, J. Edwin. Evangelical Awakenings in Eastern Asia. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1975.

Paik, L. George. The History of Protestant Missions in Korea, 1832-1910, 2d ed. Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1970.

Mike Morris: (M.Div., D.Min) has served as a summer youth worker in Alabama, youth minister in Texas and Arizona, associate pastor in Tennessee, senior pastor in Kentucky, and church planter with the IMB for 10 years in South Korea. He is now starting a church in West Tennessee.

He should complete his Ph.D. from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in about a year.

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Spiritual Warfare in Times of Revival: A Case of the Daloa Baptist Revival

By Ebele Adioye

Baptist work began in the city of Daloa in Cote d’Ivoire in 1978 through the efforts of Edwin and Greta Pinkston,

who came as evangelists and church planters from the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The church experienced encouraging growth from 1988 to 1991. This growth came as a result of a revival that set the church on fire for God. This revival has waned today, and the region of Daloa faces a religious crisis because of a lack of understanding of the biblical meaning of revival, the relationship between spiritual warfare and revival, and because of a lack of appropriate leadership among the nationals.

This article establishes the relationship between spiritual warfare and revival, and it offers practical guidelines that can help present errors and distraction

from God’s purpose in sending revival to His people. It will reveal that, though a church seeking renewal may expect unusual supernatural occurrences and spiritual conflicts, the eternal purpose of God in granting spiritual revival concerns the restoration of fellowship, right living, and spiritual empowerment for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. I will also analyze selected revivals in the Old Testament in order to establish the relationship between revival and spiritual warfare.

When genuine revivals occurred in the Old Testament, spiritual conflicts (spiritual warfare) also occurred, yet the primary goal was the restoration of the worship of Yahweh.

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DEFINITION OF TERMS Spiritual Revival Vance Havner, a wellknown revivalist of the 20th century, defined revival as, “A work of God’s Spirit among his own people . . . what we call revival is simply New Testament Christianity, the saints getting back to normal” (Havner, 103-4).

R. Kirk Kilpatrick also defined revival as: The work of God’s Holy Spirit illumining, rebuking, burning away of transgression, and bringing back the first-love glory to Christian lives that have been tarnished by sin. As God shines His face upon His children, sin retreats and they are changed further from glory to glory (Psa. 80). The fruit of real revival is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control [Gal. 5:2223]) (Kilpatrick, 2009).

The above definitions present God as the initiator and author of true revival.

Havner and Kilpatrick identified Christians as the objects of true revival. Revival is for human beings who have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

The main goal of revival in these definitions concerns the renewal of fellowship with God and other children of God. How 70

does spiritual warfare relate to revival in the above definitions?

If any relationship exists, Havner and Kilpatrick did not affirm it explicitly. Many African Christians, however, including believers in Côte d’Ivoire, understand spiritual warfare as an evidence of spiritual revival.

They understand revival as a period of warfare against Satan and his demons. To understand the reason for this warfare approach to revival in African Christianity, the definition of the term spiritual warfare is necessary.

Spiritual Warfare Timothy M. Warner defined spiritual warfare as “the Christian encounter with evil supernatural powers led by Satan and his army of fallen angels, generally called demons or evil spirits” (Warner, 902). This definition acknowledges the existence of Satan and demons, recognizes their power, and identifies them as enemies of the people of God. C. Peter Wagner described spiritual warfare as an encounter between Christians and evil spiritual powers. He insisted that spiritual warfare was “a means toward the end of seeking and saving that which was lost” (Wagner, Warfare Prayer, 16-19).

After Frank Peretti’s book This Present Darkness, the concept of territorial spirits in spiri-

tual warfare became an essential subject for spiritual warfare preachers. Peretti wrote this novel to highlight the importance of prayer in opposing demonic forces. He saw demons and satanic attacks behind all crises occurring in the physical world and behind spiritual slumbering in churches (Peretti, 1986). The above definitions and beliefs about spiritual warfare suggest a serious implication: the vitality of Christian churches depends on their ability to identify and defeat the power of Satan and his demons in the life of believers and in the community where they live.

This understanding of revivals as strategic venues for waging battle against demonic powers and forces has found roots in African Christianity, and the case of Daloa Baptist Church in Côte d’Ivoire represents a vivid example.

THE CASE OF THE REVIVAL AT DALOA BAPTIST CHURCH Christians fighting against demons, casting out evil spirits, detecting witchcraft, and casting out demons from church buildings and from villages have characterized the understanding of revival in the region of Daloa.

This article describes briefly the beginning, the impact, and the end of this revival.

The revival that occurred in the region of Daloa from 1988 to 1991 essentially began as the result of two events. A group of Christian leaders decided to have a monthly prayer meeting in support of the translation of the Bible in the Bété language of Daloa. The prayer group began with a small group of Christians from Baptist churches, Assemblies of God churches, and the Union des Eglises Evangeliques du Sud Ouest (UEESO). The prayer group grew rapidly, creating friendship and openness among Christians of different denominations. Churches began revival prayer meetings, inviting believers from other denominations.

Evangelistic meetings were organized, and converts were encouraged to join churches close to their communities.

The second event that led to the revival at Daloa Baptist Church was the program of Theological Education by Extension (TEE). The study of the Word of God grew rapidly with the promotion of TEE. Young people developed an extraordinary hunger for the Word of God and the sharing of the gospel in their villages and communities. In 1988, during an all night prayer meeting, the revival broke at Eglise Baptiste Méridionale d’Huberson.

A week before this all-night prayer event, I was involved with 71

four other brothers in a weeklong prayer program. Ambroise Kalou, the church’s youth leader, fell on his knees and began to confess his sins, asking for forgiveness. He also acknowledged his offenses against two brothers participating in this prayer session. Kalou’s spontaneous prayer and genuine confession affected the group and led to a week of confession. We invited many leaders of our church to this prayer time, asking them to confess their sins and seek reconciliation and restoration of fellowship with their fellow members.

On the night of the all night prayer meeting, Rev. Abednego Saho Ziho, from Eglise Evangélique du Reveil, was the guest preacher. The prayer meeting began with songs and personal testimonies of what God was doing in the lives of the members. The meeting continued with an extensive period of prayers of confession.

Church members prayed one after another, confessing their sins and seeking God’s forgiveness. In the early hours of the morning, around 3:00 A.M., after the preaching of Ziho, an extraordinary conviction of sin fell upon the entire congregation.

One could hear believers within the congregation crying and asking audibly for God’s forgiveness. The prayer time lasted until 11:00 A.M. For the next four years, the Daloa Baptist church 72

was not the same. Conversions became frequent, and church members began to share their faith with other neighbors and family members. The church of Huberson could no longer contain visitors. Baptisms were multiplied, and other churches were planted in the city of Daloa and surrounding villages. Many young people surrendered to the full-time ministry, and the TEE classes were multiplied (Edwin Pinkston, April 20, 2009).

Four years later, the revival waned, unfortunately, due to confusion of revival with miracles, healings, and the demonstrations of supernatural power.

Prayer meetings were organized for la chasse aux sorciers, meaning, “for hunting witches.” The word “revival” does not exist in many Ivorian languages. Even among the Yoruba of Nigeria, who have the word isoji (“to bring back to life” or “to wake up”), most Christians associate the idea of revival with signs and wonders and detecting evil doers. The Guro word for the verb “revive” is vuo, but they translate the term “spiritual revival” with the expression Bale Leli a Yranman Pana (“The Spirit of God is working”) or bale leli zun, meaning, “The Spirit of God came down.” The Bété people of Daloa translate the term “revival” with the phrase Galoswi’i, meaning, “to wake up according to the Spirit (Bodialo Celestin

Bially, April 24, 2009). They have no definite word for spiritual revival.

An expression, such as glaglawawuo man lagogbo mö, meaning, “They are zealous, on fire, or active for God, for the Word of God, or for the work of God,” serves to communicate the idea of spiritual revival among the Bété people (Bially, 2009). The semantic vacuum for the word “revival” is a clear indication for a potential confusion in understanding the meaning of revival among Africans. The worldview of the people also constitutes another obstacle toward a biblical understanding of this work of God among His people. While the Guro descriptive phrase for revival emphasizes the idea of God’s mighty power, the Bété people understand it as a period of zeal and commitment to God’s work.

Both the Guro and the Bété understand spiritual revival as a moment of God’s miraculous work among His people, including supernatural works such as healing and detecting evil spirits and witchcraft. The zeal and religious activities that occurred during this period of awakening are primarily an expression of curiosity from many people who attend worship services. While some come in order to receive spiritual blessings, others attend in order to prove their innocence to people who accuse them of witch practices.

Accusations, fighting, and division arose in many local churches that were planted and growing from 1988 to 1990.

Many leaders fell into doctrinal deviation, and others lost their ministry because of obvious immoral behavior. Although miracles and supernatural occurrences can appear during a period of revival and spiritual cleansing, in periods of biblical revival, God seeks different objectives in granting spiritual renewal to His people. A comprehensive and balanced definition of spiritual warfare helps to avoid confusion and to determine its relationship with biblical revival.

A BALANCED DEFINITION OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE FOR GENUINE SPIRITUAL REVIVAL Discussing spiritual warfare, Clinton E. Arnold wrote: Many Christians have come to think of spiritual warfare as a specialized form of ministry— exorcism, deliverance ministry, or certain types of intercession.

While these may represent one facet of the battle, spiritual warfare is much broader and allencompassing than this (Arnold, 19).

Arnold said further that spiritual warfare should be seen as kingdoms in conflict. He then identified the flesh, the world 73

system, and evil spirit beings as three opponents of believers in Christ that keep the church from honoring God. Ephesians 2:1-3 says: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh of the mind, and were by nature Children of wrath, even as the rest.

Arnold insisted that the world system, the devil, and the flesh constitute a balanced biblical view of the enemies of Christians. Satan uses these three elements in waging battle against the church and rendering it powerless and fruitless in ministry.

The power of Satan resides in his ability to deceive Christians from discerning which element is at work in one’s life. The following picture helps one to understand the complexity of the battle.

Arnold illustrated the warfare as a rope of three strands (Arnold, 19).

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In dealing with the idea of spiritual warfare in revival, attention must be given to the above insights from the work of Arnold. While spiritual conflicts against demonic power can occur during revival, the primary goal of God is to deal with our flesh. The reason is that believers in Christ are the primary target of God in sending revival to the church. God seeks the purification, the renewal, and the empowerment of His people through revival experiences. After their salvation experiences, Christians must continually struggle against the flesh, a natural human inclination toward evil. Paul struggled against the flesh and praised Christ for granting him deliverance from its hold (Rom. 7:1425). The doxology at the end of the text is, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” and is nothing less than a manifestation of a personal spiritual revival. Paul experienced the joy of worship because the Lord Jesus Christ had weakened and overthrown the reign of the flesh in his life.

The greatest battleground of genuine believers in Christ is internal; it is their carnal nature.

The Yoruba expression bi iku ile kopani tode kole pani, meaning “if the death from inside the house does not kill, that from

outside cannot,” properly reveals the reason God deals essentially with the human flesh during revival. If believers in Christ win the battle against the flesh, the battle against the world system and the devil becomes easy.

Believers need discernment in order to avoid Satan’s distraction when seeking for revival. The church in Daloa fell into Satan’s deception. Believers emphasized spiritual warfare against Satan, demons, witchcraft, sorcery, territorial spirits, and ancestral curses to the detriment of the warfare against their sinful nature.

Revival is God’s battle against the flesh. It is a divine grace of empowerment bestowed upon His children. Selected examples from Old Testament revivals strengthen the above view of the relationship between spiritual warfare and revival.

OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES Seven revivals occurred in the Old Testament: the revival of Asa/Jehosaphat (1 Kings 15:2, 2 Chron. 15:1-15), Elijah/ Elisha (1 Kings 18:2, 2 Chron.

21:12), Jehoiada/Jehoash (2 Kings 11-12, 2 Chron. 23-24), Isaiah/Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:4-7; 2 Chron. 29:31), Josiah/Jeremiah (2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chron. 34-35), Zerubbabel/Joshua (Ezra 5-6), and Ezra/Nehemiah. Asa, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah represent four important kings who witnessed genuine revivals (Kilpatrick, 2009). Kilpatrick constructed the following table to analyze the features of these four revivals.

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King Asa “Physician”

King Jehoash “The Lord has given”

King Hezekiah “The Lord makes strong”

King Josiah “The Lord heals”

Time: 1 Kings 15:8-10

Time: 2 Kings 11-12

Time: 2 Kings 18-20

Time: 2 Kings 22-23

He followed the Lord as did David.

He followed the Lord as did David during the life of Jehoiada (Pillar-proclaimed king).

He followed the Lord as did David.

He followed the Lord as did David (Pillarreading Law).

This revival led to the removal of the Sodomites.

This revival led to the repair of the temple

This revival led to the repair of the temple and restored the worship and Passover.

This revival led to the repair of the temple.

The revival led to the destruction of the High Places.

The revival led to the breaking down Baal’s alter.

The revival led to the destruction of the High Places.

The revival led to the destruction of the High Places.

The king’s idolatrous The king led his kinsmen mother was removed into idolatry and stoned from power.

Zechariah, son of the High Priest.

The king prevailed in battle against Ethiopians.

The king prevailed in The king was not buried The king prevailed in with the kings. battle and in the matter of battle until the battle Sennacherib’s seige. against Pharaoh Necho.

The revival ended in failure because of failure of prayer in seeking the Lord’s help while: 1. Facing Syria 2. Seeking for Physicians 2 Chron. 16:7-14

The revival ended when the king proudly showed the Babylonians all of the treasures of the temple.

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The table reveals many lessons that can serve as basic truths and insights for those who seek revival and want to gain maximum benefits from it. It reveals God as the author of genuine revival. He offered revival to His people because of His love and promises to their forefathers.

The table also shows that there is a time for revival. Revival becomes necessary when sins invade churches and when believers become powerless in their Christian witness. The table reveals two essential instruments of God in igniting revival among His people: the Word of God (the Bible) and desperate prayer for repentance and God’s deliverance. The table also exposes the impact of genuine revival among believers and in the community.

Genuine revival involves personal repentance. Believers rejected idolatry and destroyed demonic altars. These actions were not done, however, in order to satisfy human curiosity and demonstrate authority over demons or Satan. These actions came as a result of people’s conviction of sin against God. The table reveals that revivals led to victory. Victories over Ethiopia, Pharaoh, and Sennecherib were all tangible examples of the blessings of these four revivals.

The purpose of God in granting revival, however, was not for temporal victory over a physical enemy, but for the renewal of the

temple—the restoration of a genuine worship life and ministry.

Revival is all about God and the worship of God by His people. Finally, the table reveals that sin is still the greatest enemy of revival. Disobedience, lack of faith, pride, or lack of prayer can shorten revival among the people of God. Christian leaders need to understand their role and responsibility in maintaining good stewardship of this divine grace. Their lives can easily affect the entire community in furthering the impact of revival or in shortening it. In the case of the Daloa Baptist Church, in the Ivory Coast, leading nationals have created a polluted environment through a wrong perception of the purpose of revival and by engaging themselves into immoral behavior. A practical guideline becomes necessary in order to enjoy the full benefit of revival in local churches.

PRACTICAL GUIDANCE ON SPIRITUAL WARFARE IN TIMES OF REVIVALS The first step that must characterize a church seeking revival is prayer. The Daloa Baptist church began praying for the translation of the Bible into the Bété language. The reason for prayer must be genuine and selfless. The Word of God must saturate the life of believers. In the Daloa Baptist church, the 77

TEE program created a genuine thirst for the Word of God among selected leaders. When prayer and the Word of God begin to saturate believers’ lives, the local church should expect a revival from God. The key is not promoting revival, but rather seeking God desperately through prayer and the Word of God. The church should also be prepared for spiritual attack against this coming renewal of the body of Christ. Satan attacks the church through wrong teachings. Leaders should, therefore, prepare for aggressive discipleship during times of revival.

The blessing of baptism and conversion should not distract the church from the purpose of revival. God seeks those who desire true worship as He sends revival to His churches (John 4:23-24).

CONCLUSION A failed revival is like the death of an infant. The pain of a failed revival defies description.

In Africa, the wind of a wild revival seems to be blowing in many regions of the continent.

This encouraging news also leads to disappointment when the movement faces a sound biblical scrutiny. The race for prosperity, healing, exorcism, and the thirst for the supernatural are negatively affecting this God-given revival.

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I believe that discipleship and aggressive training in the Word of God constitute the next chapter of the serious missionary task in Africa, and particularly in Côte d’Ivoire among the Bété people. The wave of a spiritual revival upon the entire continent of Africa calls for a new missiological strategy to train and equip the people for greater and higher responsibility and stewardship of God’s abundant grace in this part of the world.

SOURCES Arnold, Clinton E. 3 Questions about Spiritual Warfare.

Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997.

Bially, Bodiallo Celestin. Bété Bible Translator with Alliance Biblique. Telephone Interview by author, April 24, 2009.

Havner, Vance Houston. Heart Afire. Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1952.

Hunt, David, and Tom A. McMahon. “The New Spiritual Warfare Strategies, Part I.”http://www.thebereancall.org (accessed April 18, 2009).

Kilpatrick, R. Kirk. Class Notes: Handout on Revival.

Memphis: Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, 2009.

Peretti, Frank E. This Present Darkness. Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1986.

Pinkston, Dallas Edwin.

International Mission Board Missionary to Cote d’Ivoire from 1967 to 2000.

Interview by author, April 20, 2009.

Wagner, C. Peter. Warfare Prayer: How To Seek God’s Power and Protection in the Battle To Build the Kingdom.

Ventura: Regal, 1992.

Warner, Timothy M. “Spiritual Warfare.” in Evangelical Dictionary of World Evangelism, ed. A Scott Moreau. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000.

Ebele Adioye is a pastor, teacher, church planter, and disciple-maker from Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. He graduated from the Nigeria Baptist Theological Seminary and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Ebele received the M.Div. degree in 2006 and a Ph.D. in Missiology in 2009 from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.

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The Effects of Hurricanes on Church Planting in Louisiana

by Larry Badon

I was nearly eleven years old when I experienced my first hurricane. It was catastrophic.

In June of 1957, Hurricane Audrey hit the coast of West Louisiana near the city of Cameron with 140-mph winds.

Between Texas and Louisiana, close to 600 people lost their lives. I remember our family riding South toward Hackberry, Louisiana, and seeing the devastation. Cows were still in the electrical lines. A two-story house was in the middle of the road. Burial vaults that popped out of the ground were strewn around. Bridges were washed out, and many of the roads and trees were down everywhere.

It looked as if nothing was untouched by the power of the storm.

It was amazing to me as a young boy to see and experience

the effects of Audrey. However, in 2005, Audrey was dwarfed

by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The loss of life was over 1800, compared to the less than 600 in Audrey. Katrina almost covered the whole Gulf as it picked up strength in the Gulf of Mexico after crossing over Florida.

When I saw the satellite pictures on the news and saw the sheer size and strength of the storm, I knew we were in trouble. In the following, I will share mainly about Katrina, since it affected the area where I minister the most.

Working with the Missions and Ministry Team of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, my responsibility is to develop strategies for church planting 81

mainly in the southeast part of the state. The geographic area is east of the Mississippi River and follows the Mississippi and Louisiana state line. The concentration of new church starts is along the Interstate 10 and Interstate 12 corridor and south.

My work includes three of the fastest growing parishes (counties) in the state.

Approximately 66% of our Southern Baptist Churches are located north of the Interstate corridor; however, over 65% of the population of the state lives south of the interstate corridor.

One would ask why there is such an imbalance; for years the southern part of the state has been and is primarily Roman Catholic. The area is influenced heavily by their beliefs and their culture. This area has always been difficult for Southern Baptists to infiltrate with the gospel and to start new churches.

When Hurricane Audrey hit the coast of Louisiana, there was an obvious difference than when Katrina and other hurricanes of late hit the state. The difference was the talk about all the people in the yellow shirts, our Southern Baptist Convention, North American Mission Board, state, and associational disaster relief volunteers. No one this side of heaven will know the effects of these people and their help, kindness, care, and love that was evident wherever they 82

were assigned. I was never so thankful to be a Southern Baptist as in that time as well as now.

With our partnerships we were able to share the love of Jesus and put our faith into action. According to many, our system was far more helpful and efficient than the government system, although all they did was appreciated. We didn’t have to go out and find places to rent or buy to set up shop. Our Southern Baptist Churches were already all over the area, ready to help. All that was needed was to move in our disaster relief units; set up distribution centers; and provide meals, places to shower, places to house volunteers, places for chain saw units, and mud-out units to work from.

We were operating efficiently in hours rather than days as the government tried to figure out what to do.

In fact, we had disaster relief units stationed in strategic places as the storm was wreaking havoc on our state, and they were standing by ready to move in. This is the best example one could have to show the need and effectiveness of our Cooperative Program. Thousands of people were helped with millions of meals and acts of kindness in the name of Jesus. Many came to Jesus and are still coming as a result of what happened after the storm. Even in a storm there are blessings.

I have no scientific data to prove what I believe in my heart, but I am convinced that Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Gustav helped us above all else in building a relationship with the Catholic neighbors in South Louisiana. In fact, I believe it moved us forward as much as 50 years in being able to relate to them and their culture in such a way that we are now able to share the gospel more openly.

Some of the words I heard them say were: “I thought no one cared about me until I saw those people in yellow shirts show up at my house.” “I am Catholic, but I want to help and be a part of what you people are doing.” “Thank you for caring.”

“Thank you for telling me about Jesus; I have found hope in Him.” Some even said, “I want to join your church.” Most of the Catholics no longer see us as cultic or being against everything.

Now, we are seen as those who care and demonstrate their love.

Because of this, doors have been opened, making it possible for us to move forward in the planting of new churches in areas that were much more difficult before the hurricanes.

Frank Valanzano is one of our church planters whom the Lord called to start a new work after Katrina. His work began in an area south of Walker, Louisiana, and later moved to Port Vincent, Louisiana. Before

he started I remembered, while doing his assessment, that he was a former Roman Catholic.

One of the concerns that I had about Frank was his lack of aggressiveness in evangelism, and I shared those concerns with him. As a result, some suggestions were made to help him improve in this area of his life, since aggressive evangelism is so crucial to church planting.

It is a fact that if you don’t win people to Jesus there is no way to start and grow a new church. A church planter must target the unchurched and unsaved people. Frank got off to a shaky start and had about 20 folks meeting, but things had stabilized and it seemed the new church was struggling. I had noticed that not far from where Frank was meeting, there was an Old Catholic church in Port Vincent, Louisiana that was not being used.

I mentioned the empty church to Frank and the Director of Missions of his association and encouraged them to check on it.

Frank spoke to the priest who was overseer of that area and was able to lease the property. He has worked at that location for over a year and is making a difference in the community.

He recently obtained a second trailer to meet the needs of the children and adults for small group Bible study. They now have over 20 children coming, 83

and approximately 60-70 attend the Sunday worship service.

One of the neat things is that some of the folks that used to come to the Catholic Church come to worship there now, and some are coming to know Jesus.

Frank baptized 17 last year and is seeing a steady growth in the church. I believe the help we gave the Catholics and the relations built after Katrina and the other storms helped make this possible.

More than three years before Katrina came ashore in the Slidell area, Larry McEwen, one of the best relational people I know, started a new church in Slidell, Louisiana. Things were going well for the Northshore Church that started out with Bible studies in houses, soda shops, fire stations, and a gymnasium. They were eventually able to lease/purchase a 17,000 square foot building in a mall.

Using volunteer labor and our mission builders, they were able to complete it and have it ready for worship. Soon after moving in, the attendance grew to 375 in weekly worship. What would happen next would be a church planter’s worst nightmare.

Katrina came ashore and moved right through their building. It was completely destroyed, with gusts of wind up to 175 mph and six to eight feet of water in the building. They were unable to get insurance because they did 84

not yet own it. They lost everything!

Larry’s home was not far from the church, and it was flooded as well. A couple of days after the storm, I was checking on our churches and went by the Northshore church. Pastor Larry was there, seeing if anything could be salvaged. After talking awhile, he told me he had been down at the shelters, witnessing and sharing the Good News of Jesus with those people. It was a blessing to me to know that even after losing everything and being uncertain of his own future, he was unselfishly ministering to others in the refuge centers.

What a testimony!

He had members calling him on a regular basis saying they would not return to the area. His members were scattered all over the United States. Two weeks after the storm, Northshore had their first worship service in the parking lot of the now destroyed church building. We know that the church is the people and not the building; however, Larry only had a handful of folks there. All the work that was put into building their attendance to 375 prior to the storm seemed to be gone.

However, many souls had been saved and they were out in the world serving.

Knowing he was going to have to start all over again, Larry launched out with faith and determination. This church

is now meeting in the Slidell Athletic Club. They hold three Sunday morning services and are back to the numbers they had before Katrina. They have just purchased a huge, vacant building with all the parking they will need now and in the future.

Construction has already begun, and volunteers are coming to help. What a testimony to the power and faithfulness of God. Not long ago, Larry told me the Lord told him that they were not dreaming big enough. God placed an old supermarket building on his heart, and now they own 50% of it. It was so large they could only purchase half of it. They have the option to purchase the other half at a later time. I am looking forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do there.

Good things can come out of adversity. When Northshore started working on their first facility, the City Council was tough on them and made it hard for them to accomplish anything.

The Council had members who weren’t in favor of building new churches. Some of these people were Catholics who made it as hard as possible for them.

When they saw what Southern Baptists were doing in helping their city, their attitudes began to change. Northshore, as well as our other surrounding churches, made a huge impact on meeting the needs of the

people in the area. The impact was noticed, not only by the leadership of the city and parish, but also by the local people.

They were amazed at the meals that were served, the food, cleaning supplies, and ice that was supplied. The volunteers, literally from every state in the union, were there to clean and gut houses. Chain saw crews were there to cut trees and clean up yards. The most effective evangelism took place when the mud-out crews and chain saw crews went to individual houses to help. Relationships were built, and many came to know Christ as the volunteers went out into the community.

We even had volunteers from the state of Hawaii and the nation of Canada. Our churches became outwardly focused rather than inwardly focused and began to minister to their communities.

Southern Baptist Churches throughout the nation gave millions of dollars to those affected by these storms. I was privileged to distribute some of it to our directors of missions, pastors, and churches. I was able to see people’s needs met through the donations that were given. Many received these donations with gratefulness and tears in their eyes, because they knew their needs were being met through our loving Father. To Him be the Glory! By the way, I came through the storm with no losses 85

and was without power for only six hours. I felt a little guilty because so many had lost so much.

Lane Corely’s church was three years old when Katrina hit the area. He was north of Covington, Louisiana, in the town of Waldheim. The church is appropriately named “Hope Church.” The first member of the church was a neighbor Lane won to the Lord who later became a leader and teacher in the church. Hope Church was started in a home and later moved into a firehouse in the country. Lane joined the volunteer fire department in order to have access to those families.

They met in the firehouse without air conditioning and with little heat in the winter; however, the Lord blessed them and the congregation grew to about 75.

Later, they were able to purchase a café that was on the main highway in an excellent location. The area they were in was hit hard by Katrina, but their building only received minor damage, and they didn’t have any flooding. As soon as the storm was over, they were ministering to the community.

When they purchased the building, it came with a full commercial kitchen and a generator large enough to run the building and all that was in it.

They began to use it right away to help the people in the area.

They were able to take care of 86

some of the disaster relief crews that were in the area. Lane was able to coordinate some of the chain saw crews that were there because of the hundreds of trees that had fallen.

After Katrina, one interesting thing that happened at Hope church was that a couple from Michigan moved to the area to roof houses. In fact, they owned a roofing business and actually moved the business to the area.

It wasn’t long before Lane was able to lead Joey and Beverly, a couple with a Catholic background, to the Lord, as well as their two teenage children.

Lane has recently started working part time with the North Shore Association and is in the process of starting a new church in the Mandeville area.

This is an area that was hit hard by the storm. He feels that God has called him to be a catalytic church planter and has led the Hope Church to call a pastor and to continue to minister in the area and the world. The leadership that Lane has given is exemplary, and it is evident by the progression of the Hope Church. They have even participated in mission trips to Mexico and to Zimbabwe. A couple from Zimbabwe joined the church.

Paul Smith started Life Church several years before Katrina. They were meeting in a rented facility in Mandeville, Louisiana. The Lord blessed

them, and they were seeing substantial growth in the church.

They were in the process of buying a strip mall when the storm hit. There was some minor damage to the building.

Life Church immediately began to minister to the needs of the people in the area. The church became a distribution point for household needs and material and equipment to clean the mud, mildew, and mold out of houses. Most homes had to be gutted to get mold and mildew out and to check the wiring and for other possible damage. I went by several times, and it was a beehive of activity. People were coming in and out to get needed items. They were also getting both the written Word and hearing the gospel through personal testimonies. God used this church in a great way to minister to the community. They are now in the process of sending out a church planter to Springfield, Missouri. A former Catholic who was saved and became a minister in the church is now preparing to start another church in the area.

Mandeville is an area that is under-churched, and we have a strategy in place to start several more churches in the area.

Because of gifts given by the people of the Southern Baptist Convention through the North American Mission Board, we have the funds to help start these

new works in this crucial area.

In fact, the new work that Lane is starting in the Mandeville area is a result of these special funds that were made available.

Another church is preparing to start, and our church planter, Jim Winslow, is in the process of moving on the field at the time of this writing.

The aftermath of Katrina brought in many people in the construction trades. Many of these are of Hispanic descent.

Humberto Medina started Iglesia Cristo Redentor with the FBC of Mandeville as their sponsor. He could speak very little English when he came on the field. We were able to help him participate in English classes, and Humberto is now doing much better. The Hispanic people in the area are being ministered to by him. He is seeing many Spanish speaking people come to know Jesus and is baptizing many of them. We are now in the process of starting a new Hispanic work in the Baton Rouge area. The church planter is Carlos Rosales, and the sponsor is the Florida Boulevard Baptist Church. We also have several other Hispanic church planters at work in my area.

The Hispanic work brings with it many challenges. They have national differences and generational differences, as well as illegal alien problems.

Sometimes a Spanish pastor will build up a congregation, only 87

to have them leave overnight because of legal issues or simply because work becomes available in another area. Others go home for Christmas or other holidays and never return.

Kirk Jones started Fellowship Church in Prairieville, Louisiana. He started out by joining the fire department, going through all the training the other firemen go through, and attended their Chaplain training. In becoming their Chaplain, Kirk had immediate access to approximately 60 family units. Out of this beginning and until the time Katrina hit Louisiana, the church had grown to 125 in worship. The storm had little effect on the church in the sense of damage to the facility, but they did have a loss of people who left the area for various reasons.

Kirk and the church stepped up to the task of ministering and helping people immediately. They were even providing meals before the disaster units set up. They also helped with a distribution point set up by our churches in the area. After Katrina, they grew and were able to build their first facility on the property they and the sponsoring church (Istrouma Baptist Church, Baton Rouge) were able to purchase. The purchase and the price were both miracles. At present, there are approximately 280 in worship, and they are 88

getting ready to start a second Sunday morning service.

Hurricane Gustav affected them more than Katrina, and they were able once again to minister to folks in the area.

They again provided meals and chainsaw crews to help with downed trees and cleaning of yards. The North American Mission Board set up a communications trailer in their parking lot. Joey and Kim came to know the Lord because of the church’s involvement in the community after Gustav. They came from a Roman Catholic background.

As a direct result of their decision for Christ and the change in their lives, their grown son, Stephen, came to know the Lord. As they were growing and awaiting their day of baptism Joey was able to lead his sister to the Lord. Fellowship Church, under the leadership of Kirk Jones, baptized thirty-four this past year. What a joy it is to see these churches, which we have had a small part in planting, bringing people into the family of God and to see the Kingdom of God expand as a result.

Jose’ Matthew was one of our church planters in New Orleans. He is an outstanding African- American minister whose life was changed dramatically after Katrina rampaged throughout the area. The church building he and his congregation had labored so hard over

was flooded and was later filled with mold and mildew. The congregation scattered throughout the United States. His house was also destroyed by wind and water. He was out of the area for a while; however, he returned and moved to the Baton Rouge area. Jose’ was able to transition one of our Anglo churches to African-American.

After the loss of his church and home, Jose’s life was challenged many more times. His wife’s mother passed away; he had a stroke; and his son was killed in Houston, Texas. His life seemed to mirror the story of Job. However, he never lost his faith, and he has continued to minister to the Circle Baptist Church. The church is experiencing growth, and Jose’ is a blessing to the church, the community, and to me as well.

They too have learned to focus outwardly instead of just focusing inwardly. They are reaching the transitioning community in which they live and minister.

We have helped to revitalize another African-American church since Katrina blew through the Bogalusa area. It is a small church, and we are helping the pastor to reach the community. He has several special programs that have helped the children in the area, and he is seeing some of the youth come to Jesus. Another work that just started this year in the

Kentwood area has taken off, and we are seeing God work in a mighty way there. Several young people were recently saved, and my wife and I had the privilege of being present in the service.

A Baptist Missionary Alliance Church became interested in our work in Louisiana during and after Hurricane Katrina. They were impressed by the number of volunteers and the impact made on the area because of our cooperation.

The pastor contacted our North Shore Association Director of Missions (Lonnie Wascom) and expressed a desire to become a Southern Baptist church. They were placed under watchcare by the association and their credentials committee and later did become a Southern Baptist church.

They are now becoming an incubator church. They are the Central Baptist Church, but they house our Filipino Church Plant. We are in the process of housing a Hispanic work and an African- American work there as well. They have also converted a ball field on the church property to accommodate camper trailers and RVs. It is being used by groups that come to the area to do volunteer work in the North Shore and New Orleans. Much progress has been made in the area, but there is still much ministry to be done, especially in parts of New Orleans.

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This is just a small glimpse of what has taken place as a result of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and others that have affected the coast of Louisiana. I would do a disservice to my missions and ministry team if I didn’t mention them. Mike Canady is our team leader and has spent many hours as an instrument in this work.

With NAMB and the Louisiana Baptist Convention, the “AdoptA-Church” program was put into effect. Just keeping up with all the details took a great deal of time. Several of our neighboring states came over and helped with this. Our disaster relief person was Loy Seal in Katrina, and now we have Gibbie McMillian who leads in disaster relief. Our regional strategists are: James Jenkins, Jeff Cook, John Hebert, and me. We count it a privilege to be used of God during these times of assisting our associations and churches. The rest of our team, including the WMU, was heavily involved. It was also a challenge for our Executive Director, Dr. David Hankins, who gave us great leadership and encouragement and stood strong in the Lord during that time. The Lord blessed, and our convention, churches, and associations came through the stress.

Much was learned about ministry and the giving of ourselves.

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In my region, Roddy Conerly, David Brown, Lonnie Wascom, and Joe Baugh lead our associations as directors of missions. They are a blessing to my life, and they make a difference in this area. New Orleans is still another story of its own. Much has been accomplished since the destructive forces of Katrina.

Many things have changed, and most of them for the better. Our churches learned to get outside the four walls and minister in the community. It was amazing to see how the community responded to us, and now the eyes of many were opened to the potential of truly ministering to a community. We will never know this side of heaven how many souls were brought into the kingdom and will be brought in as time goes on.

When people wonder why we need the Cooperative Program and if it is really does any good, I would like to have them come to South Louisiana and let me tell them how important it was (and is) to the survival of our work. I have never seen such unity and such an outpouring of Christian benevolence as I did during these times. I’ve also never seen a better example of the way God uses our people (His people) to meet needs.

The great thing was that our system was already in place. I don’t know of any better way to

accomplish what we did, but we do strive to continually do more.

By the way, I am a former Catholic and am thankful for Southern Baptists and my wife Patricia of 43 years. These are the people who helped me come to know the Lord Jesus. For that I will always be grateful. I must end by saying that we serve a great and awesome God, and He deserves all the glory and honor for the things He has done!

Larry Badon is Regional Strategist with the Louisiana Baptist Convention in Alexandria, LA. He received a Diploma of Theology in 1979 and an A.Div. degree in 1988 from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.

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92

A Plea to Reconsider Theological Education Engagement in Historic Mission Fields

by David Allen Bledsoe

Consider these scenarios: A Bible college student writes his thesis under the presupposition that the book of Ecclesiastes was penned during the intertestamental period,

thus denying the traditional dating of the biblical work. A student in a Baptist university informs his professor of missions that his fellow faculty member holds the following view of salvation: Jesus saves, but His saving grace also applies to a sincere follower of another religion, even if he never heard of the living Christ. A pastor declares that it does not matter what belief in Christ a person holds as long as he embraces an experience with Christ. A church layman comments that the new generation of pastors lacks a passion for evangelism and an emphasis on the gospel in their preaching.

To those belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the above citations sound

as if they came from their own selected academic or ecclesiastical settings during the last half of the twentieth century.

Thankfully, the denomination pulled itself out of the currents of liberalism and returned to historical Christian truth (Machen). Scores of leaders and members prayed, collaborated, preached, and gave sacrificially to reverse this trend. The newer generations of members, pastors, and missionaries who have comprehended what was at stake for the gospel salute them.

The opening scenarios, however, were not from the Southern Baptist camp or from a North American context. They were personal recollections of conversations with ecclesiastical leaders 93

and seminary students in Brazil, a two-thirds-world context that has had a rich evangelical mission history.

Southern Baptists overcame theological liberal leanings, and their daughter denomination in Brazil must encounter a similar struggle in a dissimilar social setting. The SBC began work in Brazil during the second half of the nineteenth century and later formed the Brazilian Baptist Convention with a comparable structure of churches, seminaries, and other institutions.

Alarmingly, accounts of liberalism are neither restricted to Baptists nor the country of Brazil. Missionaries are noticing doctrinal deviations in many countries on most continents where their evangelical predecessors labored. Observing these trends, they ask themselves, “Why is this occurring, and what can be done about it?� The liberal inclinations among established evangelical denominations bring grief and alarm to those who understand the missiological ramifications and the intensity required to pull out of liberal waters.

This article identifies a small number of explanations for this liberal inclination, presents a theological education-based initiative for partial resolution, and suggests approaches for corrective solutions. Field observations are primarily limited to Brazil, 94

which is considered a historical mission field, but insights are intended to help those who serve cross culturally and face like challenges.

Reasons for Liberal Tendencies in Historic Mission Fields An increasing trend toward liberalism exists among some established evangelical denominations in historic mission fields.

The following identifies three contributors for the current predicament related to the area of theological education.

First, a few professor-missionaries played a role in the present liberal environment. In the case of Brazil and Baptists, the vast majority of SBC missionaries who served were committed to the authority of Scripture and orthodox Christian convictions. They were faithful servants. The SBC, however, produced an undetermined quantity of missionaries, particularly professor-missionaries, who passed along deviant views of Christianity during the last century. Their theological formation occurred in SBC seminaries where selected mentors propagated liberal content that differed from the majority of SBC affiliates. Unfortunately, a similar scenario also took place among other evangelical denominations working cross-culturally.

A Brazilian pastor, mentioned in the introduction, once shared his conviction that theological truths about Christ are not as important as the Christ experience. This sentiment echoes some of the same ideas made popular by liberal theologians of the past centuries. This pastor’s theological position was the driving motivation and cause of a city-wide event for all “evangelicals” including those groups that are outside the bounds of orthodox Christianity. When expressing my uneasiness for this inclusion, the Brazilian pastor referred to his course research of German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher for support. He studied many years ago at the International Baptist Theological Seminary located in Ruschlikon, Switzerland. This seminary, though started originally by Southern Baptists, propagated liberal teachings from its inception (Sutton, 274).

Missionaries by and large serve in roles that give them an ability to influence national leadership, especially the upcoming generation. This inspiration can be positive or negative, constructive or destructive. Although the examples are few, some professor-missionaries transmitted liberal theological tenets to past and present-day evangelical leaders. As SBC leaders struggled to rid their seminaries and agencies of liberalism, liberal-trained

professor-missionaries slipped into mission fields during the past century. They merely proliferated cross-culturally what they studied, embraced, believed, and valued. Again, the vast majority passed along the historical Christian faith and the mission fervor that Southern Baptists have historically treasured, but a few did not.

Second, most agencies that have invested in historic mission fields have either reduced or eliminated theological education in their priority strategy. In the case of Brazilian Baptists, their three national seminaries and selected regional seminaries counted on the presence and, in some cases, direction of SBC missionaries. In 1998, the International Mission Board (IMB) overseas leadership team adopted a church planting movement (CPM) strategy that restructured and refocused its missionary personnel to work towards the “rapid and exponential increase of indigenous churches planting churches” (Garrison, 7). Shortly thereafter, missionary personnel worldwide appointed to formal venues of theological education were being reassigned to the primary task of working towards CPMs. The ramification of this strategy change was that we, as Southern Baptists, lost most of our influence in overseas seminaries. Instead of transi95

tioning and becoming partners at the table with the nationals, we excused ourselves to begin another tactic that contained no emphasis on formal theological education within this process.

The national brothers were invited to embrace the newfound methodology, but the focus of CPM continued with or without their help or support. Although the pendulum is returning to a more balanced strategy of ministry, only a handful of missionaries are left in Baptist seminaries with little voice to teach students and mentor the national leadership within these institutions. The influential seminaries, especially in large urban centers, have struggled with liberalism within their classrooms, and most missionaries can only shake their heads, standing from the outside.

Peruvian-born missiologist Samuel Escobar expressed his bewilderment at the IMB’s decision to pull out of theological education. He wrote, “It is hard to understand why the International Mission Board of Southern Baptists has decided to drop the significant involvement they had in theological education in Latin American Baptist churches, in order to focus their effort on church planting among the so-called unreached peoples” (Escobar, Art ID 3392). Escobar assessed that leadership training was one of the critical tasks to 96

help Latin American evangelicals entering the twenty-first century.

Third, national professors teaching in theological educational institutions must seek graduate-level studies found in predominately secular universities and European seminaries.

The lack of accredited, biblically grounded, missions-minded seminaries to prepare future professors has had significant effects on historical evangelical denominations.

In Brazil, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) recently assumed the oversight for Bible colleges and seminaries. Comparable to US accreditation requirements, a Brazilian theology professor must have completed at least one level higher of study than the course he teaches. If the course is postgraduate level, he should have a terminal degree, but where would this professor go for this required degree? No accredited evangelical theological school that upholds orthodox Christian theology currently exists for graduate-level studies in Brazil.

He must look to one of the many Catholic seminaries, a secularlyinfluenced Methodist seminary in São Paulo, an ecumenical Lutheran seminary, a federal university, or religious institutions outside of the country primarily found in Europe. These are the options available to those professors and students living in Brazil.

These schools have influenced those who teach in evangelical seminaries who, in turn, shape the theology and worldview of future pastors, missionaries, and other leaders.

The above mentioned situation has taken the spiritual life out of many Brazilian evangelical seminaries and has frustrated many pastors. This frustration manifested in a recent meeting of leaders who gathered to discuss the condition of Brazilian Baptists’ theological education.

One Brazilian pastor publically told a seminary president that he could not recommend his seminary. Being a good pastor, he refused to send his young people whom God was calling to a Baptist seminary where some professors propagated teachings not held by him or his denomination.

Justifications for reconsidering theological education in historic mission fields First, opportunities exist to help reestablish Christian theology and reinforce a mission emphasis among some established evangelical denominations. In the same meeting that the pastor expressed his refusal to recommend the Baptist seminary to his young congregants, denominational leaders requested that IMB leadership and a delegate of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS)

partner with them to solve their dilemma. The national leaders understood that theological deviations from their Baptist doctrinal statement and from what the majority of Baptists believe come from some professors in their educational institutions.

For Southern Baptists, the seminaries were also the major source for the “theological aberrations� during the last century and the focus for corrective strategies (Sutton, 31).

The national leadership specifically asked the representatives of SEBTS and the IMB to collaborate with them and develop masters and doctoral programs. Their logic was that these trained, biblically committed, Brazilian professors would fill teaching positions in their institutions and facilitate the turning of the seminaries back to the historical Christian faith.

Their request created enthusiasm for future discussions.

The national leadership also requested professor-missionaries to teach critical courses in their theological institutions until qualified national teachers with historical Christian formation and Baptist values could replace them. Teachers who have postgraduate degrees in theology are in demand. The challenge, as previously elaborated, is that most qualified Brazilian professors come from liberally-influenced institutions 97

Second, the contextual challenges demand the best theological and missiological minds to help national evangelicals ground themselves in truth and reach their fellow countrymen for Christ. Analyzing the country of Brazil, modernism and postmodernism have had profound impacts, especially in the urban centers. Most higher education institutions teach naturalistic views of the sciences. The growing middle and upper-middle classes are experimenting with materialism and discovering their deepest needs remain unmet.

Recent articles in the nationwide magazine Veja cite the current issues facing the Brazilian majority: stress, disappearance of the traditional family, introduction of abortion and gay rights, an alarming drug culture tied to organized crime, and the rise of individualism. In the quest for spiritual relief or answers to these perils, many default to Catholicism or spiritism, passed down through familial lines.

Others associate with the evolving and growing neo-Pentecostal groups that guarantee prosperity and utilize syncretistic forms of spiritual warfare. Increasingly, many people look for solace in esoteric alternatives coming from Asia.

The above mentioned issues being raised in Brazil bring sensations of dĂŠjĂ vu for Western Evangelicals. Could those who 98

have gone before be used of the Lord to help their fellow evangelicals find biblical answers, avoid similar mistakes, and be effective witnesses? No doubt, the historic mission fields are not identical copies of the West. The target people of these countries have their own language, history, and worldview. Cross-cultural ministry, while still needed, requires ministering to the people while simultaneously researching the issues and gaining insights into culture in order to present biblical solutions that are contextually meaningful.

Third, the opportunity to influence historic mission fields stands before Western Evangelicals, at least for the moment. As for the Brazilian Baptist denomination, leadership has asked for assistance.

Other historic mission fields are also realizing their predicament.

The specialized labor force exists among denominations such as the SBC and other like-minded groups in the West. Partnerships can be formed to help return theological educational institutions to Christian beliefs and launch other forms of training that benefit national leaders theologically, pastorally, and missiologically.

Southern Baptist professor M. David Sills made a similar observation in his travels to the historic mission fields of Nigeria, Ecuador, and Peru. He

found that Nationals are soliciting help in the areas of teaching, Bible and pastoral training, and theological education. He said that biblically sound Western Evangelicals currently have a voice and should take advantage of the opportunity while those asking will listen (Sills, 15-16).

Suggestions for theological educational partnering in historic mission fields Once the leadership of a mission agency or educational institution reconsiders the historic mission fields, cross-cultural challenges will soon appear. A few suggestions follow to consider for planning and implementation.

First, be slow to commit, and allow time for trust and compatible visions to develop between the two parties. It would be naĂŻve to think that all requests from nationals reflect pure motives and strategic possibilities. Getting to know key people, their history, motives, and necessities takes time. This challenge is compounded by the difficulties stemming from differences in languages, worldview, and geographical distances.

Seminaries open to partnerships with overseas theological institutions could consider beginning with short-term training events. This initiative helps them better comprehend the

context and build relationships with national leaders. In turn, this assists the nationals in understanding the possible venture in terms of funding (or lack thereof), contextual compatibility, and cooperative willingness. Each side seeks the Lord to determine what may develop for future cooperation. If one party senses that the relationship cannot proceed, then better for both and the kingdom to retract early than to continue with unexpressed concerns, dissimilar desires, or irreconcilable convictions.

Second, set goals and agree on responsibilities for each side.

Put these goals in writing, and express them frequently for accountability’s sake and midcourse corrections. Writing down the objectives and duties helps to unite and insure continuation if leadership changes or unexpected events occur. No doubt, partnerships are needed, but clarification, agreement, and open discussions throughout the undertaking facilitate the achievement of mutual goals.

Third, mission agencies and like-minded seminaries should work together according to their specialties to provide theological educational solutions overseas. A plethora of opportunities exists to train lay leaders, church planters, pastors, missionaries, theologians, and denominational directors. Gathering them together 99

for a class will produce mixed results. Leaders have different roles that require specific training, mentoring, and monitoring.

A visiting seminary professor may provide a needed specialization that mission personnel cannot, and the latter can fill certain needs and make long-term commitments that the former would find difficult.

Resident missionaries can be of great aid to visiting seminary professors coming to teach or develop degree programs.

Missionaries living in the historic mission fields could assist by connecting the non-resident professors with national leaders, advising them on ways to contextualize their teaching, and informing them of current issues related to their disciplines.

Missiologist David J. Hesselgrave hailed this recognition and the necessary adaptation as the professionalism needed on the mission field. NaĂŻve amateurism fails to see the deep differences between the two cultures (Hesselgrave, 220-221).

Seminaries can significantly cooperate with mission agencies in the promotion and selection of new professor-missionaries to serve in overseas theological institutions. The seminary staff would be best qualified to advise mission personnel which candidates from their students to consider. Recommendations should weigh in on competency and 100

experience in their major discipline, potential for cross-cultural adaptation and contextualization, and interest in church growth engagement.

Fourth, require and maintain church growth priorities in partnerships and in the placement of professor-missionaries.

Returning evangelical denominations in historic mission fields to a Christian-centered theology is not the goal, albeit commendable. This strategy is a means for them to expand and extend Godhonoring and mission-focused churches in ever-changing cultures. South-African missiologist David J. Bosch explained that the essence of Christian theology is missions and manifests itself in carrying out the redemptive purposes of the missionary God. Theology and mission should not be viewed as mutually exclusive, for theology is missionary in its nature (Bosch, 494).

Therefore, the goal of theological educational partnerships should entail the expansion of God’s glory through propagating and living out the gospel among all peoples, including the historic mission fields.

A professor-missionary committed to church growth simultaneously strives to take his discipline, whether evangelism, theology, or biblical studies, to the thousands of people who walk by, live around, and die near his classroom. He cannot hope that

his students make the application. He needs to show the connection through modeling and challenging his students to plant, assist, and pastor missionimpacting churches. Professormissionaries who teach their disciplines with a church growth ethos are desperately needed among established evangelical denominations in historic mission fields. Donald A. McGavran, father of the Church Growth Movement, proposed fifty years ago the following solution for turning around stagnant denominations still is valid for our day.

What happens when the existing Church has come to a standstill? The answer lies, in part, in a seminary staff which itself marches to the Great Commission, regards winning men to Christ as ten times more important than anything else it does, holds a ‘Pauline’ or ‘temporal-eternal’ philosophy of mission, seeks to find out how church-growth can occur today in its land, and transmits these convictions and this knowledge to its students (McGavran, 142-143).

A contemporary example of McGavran’s proposed solution would be what IMB missionary Paul Lambach has accomplished at the Equatorial Baptist Theological Seminary in North Brazil. Paul teaches New Testament and Greek in the

classroom; however, two years ago he began a much needed missions department and continues to serves as the coordinator.

Paul mobilizes the student and faculty bodies for evangelism, church planting, and missions.

The Lord has blessed this effort, changing the seminary’s environment to a missions-minded school. Students scatter throughout the week to serve in mission points; teachers make mission applications in their classrooms; and Paul keeps the task before them through weekly moments in chapel and mobilization for mission projects in the city and state. Paul probably will not serve in this capacity forever, but he stepped up, proposed, and modeled the needed missions mandate for his seminary.

CONCLUSION Mission agencies and seminaries must centralize on the Great Commission. The tasks of evangelism, growing churches, and planting churches are fundamental in accomplishing this command of our Lord; however, orthodox Christian teaching is also essential to provide the foundation and guide for gospel advancement. The Great Commission encompasses all nations, the unreached as well as the historic mission fields.

The historic mission fields pose challenges for reaching 101

their populations for Christ. One such challenge, as explained, is the teaching that strays from the historical Christian faith within denominations that benefited from past mission efforts.

The partial strategy of training, specifically formal theological education, can assist overseas denominations to reaffirm the Christian faith, thus rekindling mission advancement. As the SBC reaffirmed its Christian theological roots, home and foreign mission efforts benefitted and thrived (Sutton, 268, 286).

Untold souls and thousands of churches, existing and new, have been affected worldwide. May the larger body of Christ learn from history and consider how the same can transpire in the historic mission fields.

SOURCES Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.

Marynoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1991.

Garrison, David. Church Planting Movements. Richmond: IMB SBC, 1999.

Hesselgrave, David J. Paradigms in Conflict: 10 Key Questions in Christian Missions Today.

Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2005.

Machen, J. Gresham.

Christianity and Liberalism.

New York: Macmillan, 1923.

McGavran, Donald A. How Churches Grow. New York: Friendship Press, 1959.

Sills, M. David. “Teaching Them: The Great Omission of the Great Commission.”

EMS Regional Meeting, 2008.

Sutton, Jerry. The Baptist Reformation: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. Nashville: Broadman and Holman Press, 2000.

Escobar, Samuel. “Evangelicals in Latin America,” EMQonline.com (July 2003).

Accessed January 9, 2008.

David Allen Bledsoe serves as a missionary with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention since appointment in 1998. He lives in Belo Horizonte, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He holds a M.Div. (1997) and a D.Min. in Missions (2006) from MABTS and currently pursues a D.Th. in Missiology from the University of South Africa.

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Praying for Missionaries

by Stan May

One of the great joys of life in Christ occurred when my wife, children, and I served with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in the country of Zimbabwe.

During this time, we were privileged to be the recipients of the prayers of many of God’s people.

When we were on stateside assignment (called furlough in those days), Pat and Veronica Melancon (now serving with the same organization) went out to eat with us. They asked us how the work was going, and we told them of our successes and failures, advances and frustrations, and joys and sorrows. They persisted in their questions, and then they said, “We prayed for you.” Iva and I responded with what must have been a polite incredulity, so Veronica said, “We mean it; we had your photo on our refrigerator, and we have prayed for you every day since you left.” This simple statement

recharged our spiritual batteries and opened our eyes to see the reason behind our continued joy in the work and our desire to return. Someone was praying for us!

Praying for missionaries is as old as mission work and just as necessary. Prayer begins with a fundamental heart orientation to live for eternity. Missionaries need prayer for the trials they face, the doors through which they must go, and the souls they long to see come to Christ.

Missionaries need prayer for faithfulness in the task, for fluency in the language, and for fruit that lasts. This article examines several biblical passages on prayer for missionaries and offers practical application to help 103

those with passion pray more effectively for missionaries.

BIBLICAL CALLS TO PRAY FOR MISSIONARIES The most famous missionary in the Bible (other than the Lord Jesus, whom Martin Hengel called “the primal missionary”) is the apostle Paul (Hengel, 61-2). Paul crossed the Roman Empire seeking to make Christ known everywhere. His stated passion was to take Christ to new places, “And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written: ‘To whom He was not announced, they shall see; and those who have not heard shall understand’” (Romans 15:20-1, NKJV). Paul traveled on at least four missionary journeys: on these journeys, he started churches, and to these churches he wrote letters.

These missionary letters encourage fledgling churches to stand firm in the faith, address problems that arise in new work, and invite the new works to be a part of all that God is doing. One primary way these new works participate in ongoing kingdom work is through prayer. Paul sprinkles references to prayer throughout his epistles, but a few requests stand out as instruction for praying. Each of these requests deserves special atten104

tion; two concern requests for future prayer, and two passages speak of believers who already have been praying for the work of God.

“Pray for Us” The first of Paul’s requests, not surprisingly, comes in one of his earliest letters. Paul ends both of his letters to the Thessalonian believers by petitioning these new Christians for prayer. In 1 Thess. 5:25, he simply says, “Beloved, pray for us.” When he concludes his second letter to the Thessalonians, he calls on them to pray for him and his traveling companions, Silvanus and Timothy (2 Thess.

1:1), “Finally, brothers, pray for us, in order that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified just as it also was to you, and in order that we may be delivered from disorderly and evil men, for the faith is not of all” (3:1-2, author’s translation).1 This apostolic request expresses three key truths about praying for missionaries and their work.

The first significant idea that leaps from this verse is Paul’s humility. The great Apostle, who founded this church not long 1Greek was my minor at Union

University and my love at Seminary.

Since 1993, I have read through the Greek New Testament devotionally every year except one. These observations and translations come from that reading.

before this letter was written, calls on these nascent converts to pray for him. Paul assumes no air of pride that puts him above these new believers; he needs prayer, and it never occurs to him that he should be so above them that he does not need their intercession on his behalf.

Eckhard Schnabel wrote, “Since Paul does not rely on a ‘method’ understood in terms of ‘a defined, and regular plan’ for the success of his missionary preaching, but rather on the power of God, he regularly asks for prayer” (Schnabel, 371). God’s power is Paul’s only desire (1 Cor. 2:4), so praying saints must be his only allies.

Paul requests prayer as well to see progress in the gospel.

He asks them to pray that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified just as it also was with the Thessalonian believers.

These believers had embraced the word of the Lord as it was in truth (1 Thess. 2:13). Now Paul asks them to pray that the Corinthians, to whom he is now preaching, will receive the word in the same way. Their prayers open the door for the progress of the gospel and the glory of the Word of God. Paul asks them finally to pray for protection; missionaries are not immune to the attacks of enemies both physical and spiritual. Indeed, missionaries are truly “front-line” soldiers in

the advancement of the kingdom of God. They face spiritual foes who seek to impede or stop their progress altogether, but they also face human opponents (“improper and evil men”) who resent the gospel message and seek to thwart its proclamation.

Paul humbly asks for deliverance from these men, and he does so through prayer.

Missionaries need prayer to see the gospel spread among the people groups and places to which God has sent them.

Spirit-filled missionaries recognize their own inadequacy (and if they do not, they have deeper problems than want of prayer!) and call on fellow believers to pray for the rapid spread of the gospel as well as for protection from evil men.

Open Doors Is another request the Apostle sends to the church at Colossae. In his letter to this church planted by one of his faithful servants Epaphras (Col. 1:7-8), Paul enjoins the believers, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful in it by thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us, in order that God may open for us a door for the Word to speak the mystery of Christ, because of Whom I also stand imprisoned, in order that I may make it manifest as I must speak” (4:2-4, author’s translation). Paul requests prayer 105

on behalf of these saints for two simple needs: To open doors for the message, and boldness for when the opportunity to speak comes.

Paul was well aware that Jesus alone opens doors; he had seen the Lord open physical doors in Philippi in response to prayer (Acts 16:26), and God had given him an open door in Corinth (1 Cor. 16:9), perhaps in answer to the previously mentioned prayers of the Thessalonians. He knew that God used prayer to accomplish deliverance from prison and turn evil for good on his behalf (Phil.

1:19). He may have been longing for a release from prison, or he may have sought opportunity to proclaim the gospel to his captors, or he may have had a group coming to meet with him to ask questions about the faith.

Whatever the presenting issue, the apostle felt keenly the need for devoted prayer so that doors would be opened and he would be bold.

Today as never before, missionaries need prayer for open doors and boldness in speech.

Many countries are closed to the gospel, and only prayer that assaults these closed doors will permit a hearing. Many serving in such countries need boldness to remember their primary purpose and speak the Word of life to those lost in the darkness of sin.

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BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF PRAYER FOR MISSIONARIES Prayer at Work Corinth, where Paul successfully started a church, needed much prayer from others, and so ended offering up prayer as well. In his second letter to this troubled church, he commends them for their prayer for him and offers a glimpse of the way prayer works. He writes of God’s deliverance from some serious situation, “Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many” (2 Cor. 1:10-11, NKJV).

Praying Christians at Corinth had “helped” in his deliverance through prayer. Understanding this word “helping” offers incredible insight into the way prayer works.

Paul chooses a word for “help” that appears only here in the entire New Testament. This compound participle (sunup− ourgountwn) perhaps demonstrates the efficacy of prayer as well as any word in Scripture.

Three Greek words make up this compound: sun, meaning “together with”; upo, meaning, “underneath”; and, the verb

ergw, meaning “to work.” This picturesque word then shows believers in prayer working together underneath the surface to accomplish God’s purposes.

Evangelism is an “above-ground” work; preaching is an “aboveground” activity; but prayer is an underground activity just as important (and perhaps more so, for underground work builds foundationally). Further, prayer is work done “together”; believers worked together with one another at the church in Corinth, they worked together with Paul to effect his deliverance, and they worked with God in His purposes for Paul’s deliverance.

Finally, prayer is “work.” Above all, prayer is diligent, difficult work to accomplish kingdom purposes. Those who strive on their knees know that prayer is work—laborious toil that demands their best diligence and discipline.

Believers today whom God has permitted to remain in their homelands must be diligent in prayer. They work together with missionaries underneath the surface, building a foundation through laborious prayer on behalf of those on the field. All may not be able to go; all believers, however, are commanded to pray, working together with those who go so to advance the work. These laborers may never see on this side of eternity the fruit of their prayers; nevertheless, they can obey Scripture

and pray with bold assurance.

George Peters commented on the ultimate proof of the need for prayer: The history of missions abounds with evidences of divine intervention and gracious manifestation in behalf of the cause of missions. The history of the vast amount of prayers invested in the venture and the divine response to them will never be recounted on this side of eternity. Only in the blaze of divine light will be seen the fullness of divine glory, faithfulness and manifestations. And to our great surprise, most of such manifestations will appear to be a direct response to some prayer.

Someone prayed and God acted (Peters, 541).

“Striving Together” A second example of prayer for missionaries in the Bible is tucked into Paul’s letter to the Romans. Just before he sends his greetings to those whom he knows and loves, he calls the body to prayer, “Now I exhort you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit to contend together in the fight with me by your prayers on my behalf to God, in order that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea and my ministry to the saints in Jerusalem may be acceptable” (Rom. 15:30-1, author’s translation).

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Most significant to an understanding of prayer is the verb sunagwnizomai, translated here, “contend together in the fight.”

Paul employs the imagery of an athletic contest to express the work of prayer. The English word “agonize” comes directly from the Greek root word, and again Paul links to it the little preposition sun, “together with.”

When these Roman Christians took to their knees on Paul’s behalf, they were engaging the enemy in a contest just as real as any event that took place in the Greek Olympics (Paul employs exactly this idea in 1 Cor. 9:25).

Paul’s requests are only two: protection from evil men and success in his ministry. Regularly the Apostle requests prayer for the success of ministry. He longs to see fruit, and he knows as well that he needs the prayers of others to prepare the soil of human hearts as well as to protect from those hearts adamantly opposed to the gospel.

Prayer is contending together with the missionary on the other side of the world in a struggle for the souls of men, for the advancement of the gospel, and for the protection of the missionary, his family, and his national partners. Praying believers may never see the fruit of that contest in this life, but one Day will reveal the need for those prayers as well as the battle that took place as they were offered to 108

God. Prayer on behalf of missionaries is both the great calling and the great privilege of God’s saints.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYING FOR MISSIONARIES Missionaries need prayer, no question about it. Further, most believers who become serious about missions want to be involved in prayer for missionaries. The study above may help to clarify ways to pray for missionaries, but this section actually offers simple, practical suggestions to develop a focused prayer ministry for missionaries.

I became convicted of the need to pray for missionaries before I ever went to the field, but my prayers were haphazard at best.

After experiencing the need for prayer in every facet of life and work on the mission field, my approach to prayer changed. The following suggestions should help to focus and sharpen the prayers of any Christian who longs to be effective in praying for missionaries.

Pray for Them by Name “God bless all the missionaries,” may be the standard prayer uttered in many churches, but the examples both of Jesus and Paul reveal a far more personal approach to intercessory prayer.

The Lord Jesus knows His sheep by name and prays for them eternally (John 10:3; Heb. 7:25).

The Apostle prays for believers in the churches that he starts, even to the point of telling them that he’s praying for them (Phil.

1:3-4; Col. 1:3; et al). He calls on the churches to pray for him specifically. In the same way, believers ought to invest the time in prayer to pray for missionaries by name to God. Personal intercession identifies the believer with the missionary, focuses the prayer, and binds their hearts together in mutual love for the ministry.

Pray Scripture for Them Effective prayers for missionaries (and for anyone, for that matter) ought to be biblical.

In his first letter, John writes of the promise of answered prayer, “And this is the boldness that we have toward Him, that if we should ask anything in accordance with His will, He hears us; and if we know that He hears us whatever we should ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:1415, author’s translation). Those who pray Scripture back to the Father on behalf of others may be sure that they are asking in accordance with the will of God. Specific petitions for safety, fruit, provision, joy in the work, and a host of other needs all find support in the pages of Scripture.

The wise intercessor will read the Bible with an open mind, asking God to illumine verses that meet the needs of missionaries he knows. He will then personalize those verses and pray them back to the Father on behalf of the missionary.

Some specific verses in prayer include fruit (John 15:5, 8, 16), conformity to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29), growth in grace (2 Pet. 3:18); joy and peace (Rom. 15:13), purpose (John 4:34-5; Acts 20:24; Phil.

3:13), walking by faith (2 Cor. 5:7), living for the Day (2 Cor. 5:10), provision (Phil. 4:19), freedom from fear (Ps. 56:3), and boldness and power (2 Thess.

3:1-3; Acts 4:29-30). A plethora of other verses leap out at the reader who lives in God’s Word; these wait to be claimed by praying believers. Praying Scripture gives confidence and power in prayer.

One specific request that Jesus commands every intercessor to seek is the prayer for laborers (Matt. 9:38). MidAmerica’s President Emeritus, Dr. B. Gray Allison, remarked that this is the only explicit prayer concern that the Lord Jesus gave to His disciples. International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin wrote, “Most churches have never had a missionary called out of their congregation.

Could that reflect the fact that the church does not demonstrate 109

a heart for the world, that it isn’t burdened and praying for the nations” (Rankin, 63)? The reason most churches do not see missionaries raised up and called out may be that they do not ask the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest.

These prayers are for the future missionaries who are not yet serving (and may not even be born!), but they are essential for the future progress of the gospel and the gathering of the harvest for the Day.

Pray Specific Prayers When I pray for missionaries, I ask all of the above verses.

I also pray the following requests using the following alliteration (some people may not like this, but it helps me to remember the petitions I want to pray on behalf of those missionaries whom the Lord has put on my heart): • Faith to believe God’s promises—missionaries are called to walk by faith; they need to see (as do those to whom they minister) the power and glory of God in their ministries, or else their work differs not from any other religious exercise. God’s power ought to be manifested in preaching, witnessing, and within ministry of every sort.

God looks for those who trust Him to show Himself mighty in their behalf (2 110

Chron. 16:9a), so missionaries need faith.

• Fellowship with God—most missionaries struggle with the development and daily maintenance of their relationship with God. While it may seem strange to think that missionaries would struggle in their own spiritual lives, IMB President Rankin once again clarifies this truth: [The missionaries’] walk with the Lord is something that cannot be assumed. Demanding schedules, responsibilities for family and mere survival in an isolated, cross-cultural setting infringe on time needed for spiritual nurture and refreshing.

Many do not have a local church that feeds and ministers to them as they reach out and disciple new believers in infant congregations (Rankin, 68).

Praying for their fellowship with God is necessary to help acquire the spirit of worship they miss as they serve on the edge of lostness.

• Fluency in the language— everyone ought to have the privilege of hearing the gospel in their own language; missionaries should make it a goal to learn the language.

Language learning says, “I love you,” in ways nothing else can. When I returned from stateside assignment,

the nationals asked me to teach the young men of our association preaching. I was honored, and asked them why they asked me. They responded, “We know that you love us, because you learned our language, and you came back.” This prayer is not merely for new missionaries. Dwayne K. Buhler, comparing Paul’s request for clear proclamation of the gospel to contemporary missionary efforts, wrote, “There are very few veteran missionaries who would not confess their need of God’s help in communication, especially in relating the good news of Christ to a people for the first time. No matter how long a missionary has served on the field, the learned or adopted language is still his or her second language” (Buhler, 47).

• Friendship with nationals and Favor with government officials—relationships are keys to the success of missionary toils. While most cultures are more relational than the US, they may not be open to the foreign stranger in their midst. Intercessors open doors of relationships as they ask God to provide long-term “men of peace.”

They also assist in obtaining visas and work permits in countries notorious for

blocking missionary efforts.

Lasting friendships not only create fertile soil for the work; they actually open doors of opportunity that only God can see.

• Faithfulness and Focus in the work—being sidetracked in ministry happens all the time. Missionaries are not immune to the dangers of wrong focus and lack of faithfulness. Paul warns Timothy to stay true to his task (2 Tim. 4:2, 5); if Timothy faced these problems, missionaries overwhelmed with paperwork, inundated with emails, and struggling with culture stress certainly need help in staying on task.

• Fruit for their labors—the ultimate goal of all missionary endeavors is fruit that remains (John 15:16). On the Day these missionaries stand before the Lord Jesus, they will want to present to Him fruit reaped from fields sown with gospel seed, watered with tears, worked with labor, and reaped with joy. Those who pray with missionaries for that fruit do the work of tilling the soil in prayer, breaking up the fallow ground, and opening hearts to hear the Word and thus receive the precious seed.

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CONCLUSION Praying for missionaries may be the highest calling of those not permitted to go. As they pray for their brothers and sisters, they fulfill scriptural purposes and intercede with scriptural petitions. They seek God’s will for those on the field and so go to battle with them and for them. These prayers are not in vain; they are an investment in the lives of those for whom they are praying, and they are incense offered to the King of glory that one day will be sprinkled on the true altar in heaven (Rev. 8:4).

Such prayers shake heaven and earth and thus are permitted by God to shape destiny.

SOURCES Buhler, Dwayne K. “Paul’s Missionary Prayer Requests: Scriptural Principles of Praying for Missionaries,” EMQ 40, no. 1 (January 2004): 44-51.

Hengel, Martin. Between Jesus and Paul: Studies in the Earliest History of Christianity. London, England: SCM Press, Fortress Press, 1983.

Peters, George W. “Missionary Dynamic and Prayer.” In Giving Ourselves to Prayer: An Acts 6:4 Primer for Ministry. Dan Crawford, compiler. Terre Haute, IN: PrayerShop Publishing, 2008, 535-43.

Rankin, Jerry. Empowering Kingdom Growth to the Ends of the Earth: Churches Fulfilling the Great Commission. Richmond, VA: International Mission Board of the SBC, 2005.

Schabel, Eckhard J. Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies, and Methods.

Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2008.

Stan May is Chairman of the Department of Missions and Professor of Missions at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also a former Southern Baptist International Mission Board missionary to Zimbabwe.

Dr. May is currently the Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Olive Branch, MS.

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Renewing the Vision

by Gordon Fort

In 1997, the International Mission Board launched an initiative titled “New Directions.�

In anticipation of the need to evaluate the results following a decade of this initiative, the Office of Overseas Operations set the fall of 2008 as a summit for all field leadership and the senior leadership of the IMB. In preparation for this summit, the department of research was tasked with the responsibility of examining and presenting an analysis of data based on three key result areas: (1)

new people groups and engaged urban centers, (2) advancements towards Church Planting Movements, and (3) partners engaging people groups and urban centers. In looking at the cumulative totals representing a number of research categories in these three KRAs, it is amazing to see what God has done over the past ten years. Consider these comparative statistics from 1997 and 2007: 1997

Total Churches: 43,205 Total Membership: 4,185,806 Baptisms per year: 308,398 New Churches per year: 3,352 Discipleship per year: 183,742 Leadership Training per year: 34,437 New Personnel Appointed each year: 4,248

2007 157,890 9,858,018 609,968 25,497 245,072 222,604 5,271 113

It is difficult not to conclude that God has richly blessed the work of His people during this decade. In addition, we believe that God has blessed the initiatives and changes that have been made during this time period. In 2007, the International Mission Board recorded the largest numbers of new churches, baptisms, and leadership training efforts in its 160-year history. The decadal growth rates have been impressive. It is indicative of something that only God could have done, and we give Him all the glory and honor. Therefore is there any compelling reason to consider making any changes? Why not simply keep doing more of the same? Consider the following factors: 1. This is not the same world we were facing in 1997. The global context has changed.

China and India have emerged as major global economic powers. In just these two nations live some 3.2 billion people. Japan and South Korea continue to advance as major world players. The continued growth of the European Union and the changing political landscape of Russia are further factors to be considered. In 2008, the global urban population exceeded the rural population for the first time in history.

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2. The Southern Baptist constituency has changed. We do not have the same cohesion. The local church is undergoing major dynamic change. We have the transitional church, the traditional church, the seeker church, the blended church, the contemporary church, the emerging church, and the simple church. We’ve seen the franchising of the church and the decline of denominational loyalty. We are seeing the awakening of the Korean-American church to the Great Commission and the potential of a global evangelical advance among the deaf.

3. There have been rapid technological advances.

Countries are literally jumping technologies. In a remote part of East Asia, farmers who have no post offices or land lines have cell phones.

In a remote section of South Asia, personnel live in an area where there is no running water or indoor plumbing but have access to high speed wireless internet!

4. The recent stress of the US economic downturn has had global implications. The level of financial interconnectedness has been illustrated in the statement: “If the US sneezes, Europe will catch a cold.�

5. There has been an awakening of the global evangelical church to the Great Commission and its responsibility for global evangelization.

In the process of evaluation, it became clear that the IMB was in danger of losing momentum.

While record gains have been recorded in personnel deployment, the total missionary force has stayed constant at around 5,000. The number of unreached and unengaged people groups has remained consistent at about 650. If we remove the church growth statistics from a few rapidly growing movements, the work in many areas of the world appears to have plateaued.

A common phrase to describe a compelling reason for change has been the statement, “If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting the same results you’ve been getting!” It has also been said that when an organization begins to adapt its work to fit its organizational structure, it is in danger of becoming obsolete. The organizational structure simply exists to facilitate the accomplishment of the mission. For the IMB, the vision and mission are clear. We exist in order to see heaven populated with people from every language, people group, tribe and nation—the “panta ta ethne” of Matthew 28:18. The objective is to find the most efficient

and effective means of bringing the lost to saving faith in Jesus Christ, and then discipling them under theologically sound leaders in churches that multiply at a healthy rate.

In order to accomplish this objective, a joint task force of senior IMB and trustee leadership was formed to consider possible changes to the strategy and organizational structures of the IMB. At the conclusion of its work, the joint task force made a number of recommendations to the full trustee board. After extensive investigation and discussion, these were unanimously adopted.

The recommendations were as follows: 1. We affirm a continuing commitment to the basic priority of impacting lostness through: • evangelism, discipleship, and planting reproducing churches; • engagement of all peo- ples with the gospel; and comprehensive, holistic strategies, including but not limited to, medical, media, human needs, social ministries, training, and theological education.

2. We affirm a commitment to serve and facilitate all cooperating Southern Baptists involved in fulfilling our Great Commission task.

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3. We affirm the creation and the expanded utilization of platform organizations for creative access to impact lostness.

4. We affirm appropriate levels of cooperation with others, including: • Indigenous Baptist partners and missionaries; • Non-IMB Southern Baptists engaged in overseas missions; • Great Commission partners.

5. We affirm a revision of our vision and mission statements and core values to reflect a more relevant expression of our current task and commitments.

6. We affirm an organizational structure based on the following principles: • Maximize frontline personnel in witnessing and church planting.

• Minimize administrative field structure and resources.

• Serve and facilitate field personnel and their needs.

• Provide appropriate accountability at all levels.

• Provide a seamless unity between home and the field.

• Alleviate the administrative burdens of the regions.

• Accommodate supervision and accountability of creative access platform organizations.

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• Staff with servant leadership at all levels.

7. We affirm a uniform structure in which missionary personnel are assigned to a team whose work is coordinated by a team facilitator.

• Teams are organized into clusters led by a cluster leader to facilitate impacting the lostness of their assigned target area/people group.

• Clusters are affiliated with global affinity groups.

• Global affinity groups are established on the basis of language, culture and ethnicity.

• Affinity group strategists ensure accountability of the clusters to the Office of Global Strategy.

8. We affirm that each missionary unit will be served by geographically-based support teams representing financial management, business services, personnel support and mobilization assistance.

The revised vision and mission statement are as follows:

Vision: “Our vision is a multitude from every language, people, tribe, and nation knowing and worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Mission: “Our mission is to make disciples of all peoples in fulfillment of the Great Commission.”

In my opinion, after considering the primary change that is being envisioned, we should move toward an affinity focus.

What is an affinity group? The concept of affinity builds upon the standard missiological understanding of people groups. The word “affinity” describes something which has an attraction or “drawing” to something else; it is almost like a magnet pulling pieces of metal together. An “affinity” group is taking the concept of people groups and building a framework that takes the “peoples” of the world and groups them together with others with whom they have an “affinity.” This affinity is based in some part on each of the following: language, culture, world-view, ethnicity, and origins. As the task force looked at the peoples of the world, an initial grouping of global peoples into eight affinity groups began to emerge. These groupings have been designated as: “The Sub-Saharan African Peoples,” “The North Africa and Middle Eastern Peoples,” “The Central Asian Peoples,” “The European Peoples,” “The South East Asian Peoples,” “The East Asian Peoples,” “The South Asian Peoples,” and “The American Peoples.”

The basic component of active strategy remains at the frontline team level. Missionaries are grouped into teams based on a common strategic focus. These

teams are led by a team strategy leader. If the team is based on a focus to reach a specific people group, then they are responsible to develop a strategy that ensures that the people group will be reached despite their location.

An effective strategy takes place when strategic resources are applied within a dynamic context in order to accomplish the mission. Eight to twelve teams will be grouped together to form clusters of teams led by a Cluster Strategy Leader. These clusters will then be assigned based on one of the eight global affinity groups. Finally, each of these affinity groups will be led by an Affinity Global Strategist.

This structure is simply a tool that allows us to accomplish our purpose. Remember, the goal is to find the most effective and efficient means of reaching the lost and then discipling them in theologically grounded Baptist churches that multiply at a healthy rate.

The focus on affinity groups gives the missionary strategist a macro view. The basic field component consisting of a missionary team that is responsible for reaching their assigned people is unchanged. However, the dynamic change is the empowering of the team to reach the members of their people group despite where in the world they are located. This will be accomplished by separating the support 117

functions of finance, logistics, and personnel administration from the strategy function. We will establish four continental support bases that will be assigned the support function as their sole responsibility. This will free the team, cluster, and affinity strategists to stay focused on the mission and vision. Wherever in the world personnel are deployed in order to meet strategic objectives, the responsibility for their support will rest on the appropriate support base. This allows for maximum flexibility and efficiency in order to accomplish our mission.

Global populations have become more migratory and mobile than probably any time in history. A great illustration of this dynamic is what I would term the “re-colonization” of Southern Africa. The African labor force has been decimated

by HIV Aids. Massive numbers of Chinese laborers are flooding into Southern Africa to fill this void—some 500,000 in Angola with an anticipated 500,000 more; 500,000 into Zambia; and hundreds of thousands into Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Malawi.

The teams in Southern Africa are not equipped with the language, culture, and worldview of these new immigrants; but experienced personnel in other parts of the world are. The affinity approach allows the affinity global strate118

gist that has the best resources to accomplish the mission, to deploy personnel wherever they are needed. The support base then becomes responsible to supply whatever is needed for those personnel in their “geography.”

Another example of the dynamics of the affinity structure is illustrated in the country of Canada. The SBC has assigned the responsibility for reaching Canada to the NAMB. In addition, there is an active, vibrant, Baptist Convention in Canada along with a theologically healthy seminary. For several years the IMB has seconded missionaries who work in conjunction with CBC strategies to the coordination of NAMB. Canada has been experiencing an explosion of immigrant growth.

Approximately 250,000 legal immigrants per year are entering Canada. Most are predominantly from North Africa and the Middle East; others are from East Asia and Central Asia. The CBC has also identified specific language groups and population segments that they would like to see engaged as a part of a comprehensive church planting strategy in Canada. It has also been faced with the challenge of planting churches among the .02% evangelized French of Quebec.

These requests have been coordinated in consultation with the NAMB, and the IMB has been actively seeking to deploy part

of its experienced work force to meet this need. The dynamics of structuring according to an affinity approach will further enhance the opportunities to see Canadians coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

A final illustration of the application of the affinity approach to strategy relates to the Global Deaf population. In consultation with some of our personnel, we have become convinced that the single factor of a person being deaf outweighs any other factor. In other words, a person who is a deaf African has more in common with a person who is a deaf Chinese than he does with others who may have been born with the same language, culture, and worldview but are part of the hearing world. The fact of deafness draws them together more than any other single factor. The affinity structure gives us the ability to focus a unified global strategy for reaching the Global Deaf. At a recent Southern Baptist Convention of the Deaf, I was asked to give a closing challenge. Following the invitation, we ran out of response cards at seventy-five, and already twenty of those who responded are in the application process for international missions. It is in keeping with God’s character that He would orchestrate a stirring in the Church and prepare a global harvest among one of the

world’s most downtrodden and hidden peoples. According to the teaching of some world religions, a deaf person has no hope of paradise. In other cultures they are a hidden people. The affinity approach has enabled us to peel back the layers that have prevented us from seeing the strategic possibilities of reaching this unique global people group.

In the process of evaluating our global strategy and the opportunities and challenges for reaching a lost world, it has become evident that a massive harvest force is needed in order to engage the remaining unreached people groups that currently exist in the world.

The IMB has prioritized as an objective the engaging of the unreached people groups in the world that have a population size of over 100,000. Due to population growth, this number continues to change, but currently there are some 643 that have no missionary witness. In addition, there remain thousands of micro-peoples that do not have a missionary witness. The possibility exists in the next decade to complete the task of engaging all of these remaining people groups. However, in order for this to be accomplished, the global evangelical church must awaken to its responsibility to engage the Great Commission.

There are some indications that the Spirit of God is stirring in 119

the Body of Christ to initiate a movement that we are terming the “internationalization of missions.” Evangelical mission agencies representing some 17,000 missionaries from the South Korean church met with IMB senior leadership to discuss the global challenge.

The Chinese evangelical church has articulated a vision of sending 100,000 missionaries in what they have termed the “Back to Jerusalem” movement.

The Cuban church also has a dynamic vision of global mission. The Baptist church in the Philippines has recently inaugurated their international mission board as has the Singaporean Baptist Convention.

The Romanian and Moldovan Baptists have launched an international mission effort as well. Add to this: partnerships with Brazilian and South African Baptists, and the global mission movement picture for the future is extremely positive.

There is one final challenge to consider in concluding this synopsis of the recent changes being implemented in the global strategy of the IMB. Recent sta-

tistical data representing the vitality of the SBC is not encouraging. The decline in membership and the corresponding decline in decadal growth rates are discouraging. The failure of churches to multiply in a healthy pattern, or even just to grow by evangelizing and baptizing within their own communities, is a huge challenge. The IMB is only as strong as the local church.

If we lose the SBC base for our global mission, we will lose the battle. We have the assurance from the prophetic word of Scripture that God will draw to Himself believers from every language, people, tribe, and nation.

The question is, “What role will Southern Baptists play in God’s global mission?” Will we fade into a spiritual twilight in which we slowly lose our capacity and influence at a season of perhaps the greatest global opportunity for the advance of the gospel, perhaps passing the mission torch to others, or will we allow the Spirit of God to revive us again with an outpouring that will purify and purge us and call us again to a global vision?

R. Gordon Fort is Vice President for the Office of Overseas Operations at the International Mission Board in Richmond, VA. He received the bachelor of science degree from Texas A&M University and the master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theoplogical Seminary.

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Report Hour

by Stan May

Perhaps no event expresses more clearly the heartbeat of Mid-America Seminary than the weekly chapel period referred to as “Report Hour.”

This chapel service, devoted exclusively to faculty and student testimonies, offers a glimpse of students in the process of becoming winners of souls. Each Tuesday, faculty and students report on witnessing encounters from the preceding seven days, giving to their peers the opportunity to be concerned with them for those who have rejected the gospel and to rejoice with them for lives that have been changed.

This issue features highlights from one Tuesday’s report hour in February 2009, as well as testimonies from graduates who now serve in the U.S. or around the world.

. . . from the faculty and students Dr. Steve Wilkes: Good morning. I was able to see two people make professions of faith this week at the hospital where Dr. Miller and I go about every week. These people are in this Christian psych unit at the hospital where we serve as volunteer chaplains.

Dr. Stan May: I had the opportunity to witness to two men; one is the husband of a member, and the other simply showed up at our church on Sunday. I thought they were Christians because they sat down and participated in the services. We went to see Krishna that afternoon. He is in his mid121

thirties, from India, and he’s not saved. It was really amazing. He said, “I came because I am lost, and I need something.”

His father was Hindu, and he is praying about Hinduism. He is looking at Christianity—looking at the Christian gospel—so I explained the gospel to him clearly. He did not receive Christ but willingly accepted the offer of a book and another visit.

Dr. Jere Phillips: I do want to praise the Lord for a young woman who revealed as I was talking with her and her husband that she was lost; we went through the plan of salvation, and she received Christ as her Savior and was baptized this past Sunday.

Dr. Matt Akers: Let me share what happened on Sunday. I had the opportunity to share with a man named Esteban. He is a really hard man who has started to come to some Hispanic Bible studies. He came to the service for the first time on Sunday and indicated that he needed to be saved. He trusted in the Lord, and for the first time since I have known him, I saw a smile on his face. He began discipleship yesterday, so he is really serious about his walk. Praise God for his decision.

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Cornel Tuns, PhD student in New Testament, first semester at Mid-America: I am a missionary in residence at Union University, and I also work evenings there on security. One of the men I work with is named Larry. After he retired, he began working in security. He worked in a prison at one point. I had the opportunity to share the gospel with him, and somehow he talked about prison. He said, “I met some of those inmates and I talked with them, and they are just not willing to face up to their crime.” He then used the phrase—“to throw themselves on the mercy of the court.” So, I said “Larry, have you thrown yourself on the mercy of the highest court of heaven before God?” He said, “God, you know back in 1977 I was baptized.”

I have been sharing with Larry for the last three weeks. Pray for him that the Lord will draw him to Himself.

Matt Taylor, first-year student: I decided to take Jennifer up on her offer to go to Juvenile Court last night, so I went with her for the first time. I had the opportunity to witness to two guys and pray with another young man. The first guy’s name was Joshua, a young teenager. He came out, and he was ready to receive Jesus. I asked him “Why have you come to see a minister today?” He said, “I want to

change. I am tired of this.” So, I went through a complete gospel presentation with him, made sure he understood the decision he was making, and told him he could just pray right now. I said, “You know prayer is just talking to God” and explained how he could give his life to Christ, ask Him to forgive him of his sins, and surrender to Him as Lord; and I just let him do that in his own words. He did, and I honestly think he really meant what he said; so, pray for Joshua. He is a new believer. I also challenged him to use the Bibles that are in their cells and start reading through the Gospel of John.

Danny Allen, May graduate: Before this week I hadn’t had any witnesses, and the Lord usually gives me lots of opportunities at work; I was fretting and wondering if I was going to have any opportunities. The Lord opened up seven this week. One of them I want to mention to you was this past Sunday. A young man named Carl came forward two Sundays ago when our youth reported back from their youth retreat; he spoke a simple report, and it was obvious that the Lord was working in his life. So, this past Sunday he came forward; I took him out, talked with him, went through the gospel with him, and asked him if he had done this. He said, “Well, I have been saved before,” and I said,

“Well, let me ask you this—you know we talked about confessing Jesus as Lord,” and I said, “‘Jesus as Lord’ means that he is the ruler and the controller of your life. Has the direction of your life ever been toward Christ—you ever had that kind of change happen?” He said “No,” and I said, “Well, does this sound like something you need to do?” He said, “Yes,” so I got him to explain the gospel back to me. He seemed to understand it, and he prayed and accepted Christ there. I didn’t lead him in a prayer. I went through baptism, spending time in the Word and prayer, and witnessing to people; he was excited about all of that.

He was ready to be baptized; in fact, when he was baptized, he gave his testimony to the church from the baptistery.

. . . from alumni on the field Darren Willett, 2007 Graduate, serving in Nebraska: God is moving in NW Nebraska!

This past year has been busy and full of God’s blessing, but I have one story in particular I would like to relate. I shared the gospel with a man named Jeff earlier this past summer; at that time he told me that he had been a Christian since his childhood.

I left our meeting with the nagging feeling that he just had head knowledge of Christ and that he 123

did not really know Him as Lord.

I ran into Jeff again around the first of November. In the conversation, he shared that his wife had left him. I asked him why, and he said it was due to his chronic gambling and drinking.

I took this opportunity to share the gospel, and I challenged Jeff about his walk with the Lord.

He acknowledged that he had doubts about his salvation. I invited him to give his life to Christ, and on November 12, Jeff received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Since then he has shared the gospel with his two sons.

They prayed to receive Christ the first week of December. I baptized Jeff December 7 and his two sons the next week. Jeff’s 85- year-old grandfather was in the hospital, and Jeff wanted to go share with him. I asked

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the man if he had the hope of eternal life, and he said “no.” I shared the gospel with him, and he prayed to receive Christ there in the hospital room. I met with Jeff and his wife to counsel with them. I shared the gospel with his wife as well. She told me that she always had been a Christian.

I told her that no one is “born” a Christian and that she needed a personal relationship with Jesus if she ever hoped to have eternal life. This comment upset her, and our meeting ended. Jeff continued to work on her with the gospel, and our church prayed for her salvation and their marriage. I am happy to report that this past Saturday (January 10) I helped Jeff and his wife, Jennifer, move furniture back into their home because they are reunited.

But the best part is that Jeff led his wife to Christ two weeks ago!

Book Reviews

Frizzel, Gregory R. Returning to Holiness: A Personal and Churchwide Journey to Revival. USA: Bethany Press International, 2000.

Reviewed by Kelly Seely, Pastor of Shelby Forest Baptist Church, Millington, Tennessee, and M.Div. Student, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary In Cultivating Holiness, Joel R. Beeke wrote, “Much impedes holiness.”

Gregory R. Frizzel is ardently aware of this simple truth; he combats this impediment by offering a plan primarily to aid those seeking personal holiness. Dr. Frizzel, former pastor of Georgian Hills Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and former associational leader, has taken his zeal for church-wide prayer and spiritual awakening and channeled it into a resource that is meant to be used by individuals and congregations who are seeking personal and church-wide revival. The author, having experienced true revival himself, has written comprehensive statewide prayer strategies, which have been adopted by most state conventions. These credentials represent a true expertise in the area of personal holiness and revival and have made him an authority on the subject. In this book, the author calls individuals and congregations to personal and communal examination in order to be consecrated before God. The book, by and large, is comprised of an introduction, a daily prayer focus, and appendices. The premise of the book is Psalm 66:18: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Frizzel is convinced that unconfessed sin is the primary reason individuals do not hear from God, and congregations do not experience true revival. The author asserts that one reason the next great awakening has not been realized is the lack of spiritual cleansing that has yet to take place among many of today’s believers. Citing 1 John 1:9, he defines spiritual cleansing as “regularly getting alone with God for a thorough examination of [one’s] life” which includes confession and repentance (5).

The author states that the cleansing process is developed during the reader’s daily prayer time. Seven overarching areas of personal cleansing are addressed which include sins of: (1) thought, (2) attitude, (3) speech, (4) relationships, (5) commission, (6) omission, and (7) self-rule and self-reliance.

The reader is encouraged to pray through one area each day of the week.

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Each section begins with a selection of Bible verses and ends with a series of questions which are designed to aid the reader in bringing to memory certain sins for confession and lead the reader to repentance. Every area of personal cleansing is similar in layout, and the content is concise, yet rich. Frizzel chose verses that are contextually sound; furthermore, the questions for reflection are pointed, well thought-out, and connected quite intimately with their scriptural counterparts.

The first category begins with Dr. Frizell’s prerequisite to spiritual cleansing: a genuine saving relationship with God. He advises that no one proceed to the next days of confession if, according to 1 John 5:13, an individual does not have divine assurance of salvation (16). The writer clearly states that this is not some formulaic book that espouses a checklist of works that equal holiness; rather, the foundation for holiness is Christ (6).

The appendices include Frizzel’s personal study on biblical assurance of salvation and its effect on believers. Most useful is Appendix B, which gives proven tips for conducting solemn assemblies and church-wide prayer meetings. The author discusses everything from preparation and length of services, to the type of music he feels ought to be played. He offers five different formats for the services/prayer strategies to take place which include: (1) “An Evening Service,” (2) “An All-Day Service,” (3) “A Forty Day Strategy,” (4) “A Series of Revival Meetings,” and (5) “Discipleship Training Prayer Groups.” Appendix B would prove especially helpful to the pastor of a smaller congregation seeking structure for such a strategy.

As far as the layout of the publication is concerned, the focus on daily prayer lacks visual stimulation, thus decreasing readability. The author has carefully compiled Scripture for the strategic areas of confession as opposed to its exposition; therefore, one highlight of the book is the simplistic nature of the chapters, which would allow a maximum number of participants if being used in a church setting. Even for an advanced student of the Bible, the content (chosen Scriptures) proves to be adequate because of its richness in meditation concerning the area of confession. This resource can be purchased new on Amazon.com for less than five dollars, which makes it very economical for a church-wide strategy. Any pastor and/or congregation will find this book valuable, particularly in preparation for church-wide solemn assemblies.

Stetzer, Ed, and Mike Dodson. Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2007.

Reviewed by Steve Holt, Ministry Strategist, Tennessee Baptist Convention, Brentwood, TN. With somewhere between eighty to ninety percent of all churches in America either plateaued or declining, it is easy to see why many so-called “experts” have called church revitalization one of the hardest tasks in the world. If turning around a dying church was simple, I believe far more churches would be experiencing growth. The truth is that countless dollars, 126

man hours, and resources have been poured into efforts aimed at revitalizing churches with only limited success.

One of the latest entries into the discussion of church renewal is the book, Comeback Churches: How 300 Churches Turned Around and Yours Can Too, by Ed Stetzer and Mike Dodson. Written while Stetzer was the senior director of the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research and Dodson was pursuing a Doctor of Missiology degree, the book’s findings are based on insights gleaned from studying 324 churches from ten different denominations that experienced substantial growth after years of stagnation and decline. The scientific study revealed several common traits among those churches related to how they were able to experience a “comeback.” The bulk of the book seeks to illuminate those traits by describing how the churches were able to establish a growth posture.

While the book is based on scientific research and statistical analysis, it is not a hard book to read. In fact the authors intersperse enough personal stories and insights into the material to make the book come alive for the reader.

Most any church leader will be able to identify with the churches and people who are profiled in Comeback Churches. A theme of hope comes through as the book progresses—“with God’s help my church can grow again.” A pastor could definitely come away with the sense that given the right circumstances, the power of God at work in the life of the people, and a lot of hard work, he could lead a Comeback Church.

There is also a constant reminder throughout the book that in the words of John Maxwell, “everything rises or falls on leadership.” According to their research, the number one “human” factor in turning around a dying church is pastoral leadership. There were no examples given in the book where churches were able to turn around apart from strong pastoral leadership. Many of the churches only began to turn around after a change of pastor. Apart from the sovereign work of God, there is no substitute for an effective leader with a servant’s heart.

I must confess that after having read the book as well as hearing Dr. Stetzer present his findings in person, I am a fan. I am growing tired of those who are ready to dismiss established churches which are not growing or seem unable to impact the culture around them. Stetzer and Dodson remind their readers of the truth that our churches represent the body of Christ on the earth, and that He can breathe life into any church that will turn toward Him in faithful obedience and surrender. Comeback Churches offers practical guidance to anyone interested in seeing new life spring out from a seemingly dormant church.

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Jones, J. William. Christ in the Camp, or Religion in the Confederate Army. Atlanta, GA: Martin & Hoyt, 1904.

Available in several recent reprint editions, including Christ in the Camp: The True Story of the Great Revival During the War between the States. Sterling, VA: G.A.M. Publications, 1998.

Reviewed by Bart Barber, adjunct professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas.

Christ in the Camp is something of a firstborn child of Southern Baptist Academic publications, depending upon how one construes the distinction. Author J. William Jones graduated in the first class at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Among the graduates from Southern Baptist seminaries, none can predate him. Christ in the Camp is not Jones’s first publication—he also authored biographical material related to Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, as well as a more secular history of the Army of Northern Virginia and a textbook of American History written from a perspective friendly to Southern sympathies—but it is his first religious publication. Christ in the Camp must also be considered his chef d’oeuvre, having gone to press several times after its 1887 debut up through its most recent incarnation cited above. The book continues to spawn periodic reprints spanning more than a century, and that fact alone justifies an effort to evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, and utility for new readers.

Jones believed that “. . . the [exemplary] courage, discipline, and morale of the [Army of Northern Virginia] was influenced by the humble piety and evangelistic zeal of many of its officers and men. . . ” (5-6, emphasis his). That thought is the controlling idea behind this book. It affects the book’s organization, which moves quickly to biographical examinations of the spiritual fervency of Davis, Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart, and many others who wore the gray. Having introduced the main characters, the book moves to a narrative of their spiritual exploits. As a chaplain in the Army of Northern Virginia and a confidant of Robert E. Lee, Jones was able to offer eyewitness accounts of many of these stories.

Life in the Army of Northern Virginia—like many of the various armies engaged in the war—involved only occasional major battles. The majority of a soldier’s days involved drills, meals, and boredom. Great was the temptation to combat the boredom with liquor, and many succumbed. One chaplain stated in the North Carolina Biblical Recorder, “If we ever meet with a defeat in this army, it will be in consequence of drunkenness. Young men that never drank at home are using spirits freely in camp” (268). Jones attributed the moral and spiritual laxity of the army in 1861 to the Confederate victory at the First Battle of Manassas and the ensuing overconfidence among Southerners regarding the projected length and disposition of the war. The impetus that unleashed powerful revivals in the ranks was the series of Confederate defeats in the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. This imperiled the Confederate capital of 128

Richmond, Virginia, and “brought [the Southern] people once more to their knees” (272).

A vast array of chaplains, missionaries, colporteurs, and pious soldiers seized the opportunity to promote spiritual awakening among the troops.

Episodic revivals broke out in Confederate hospitals and selected brigades from the Seven Days Campaign through the Battle of Chancellorsville. Lee’s push into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, interrupted these early stirrings, but the retreat back into the winter camp in the South facilitated a more pervasive spiritual awakening and evangelistic campaign dubbed “The Great Revival along the Rapidan” (312).

Jones’s preface had acknowledged a perceived need to “show beyond all cavil that ‘religion in Lee’s army’ was not a myth, but a blessed reality” (6). The book concludes with efforts along those lines, including an enormous appendix (a full 25% of the page count!) containing many of the letters and minutes that serve as Jones’s sources and bona-fides.

The book provides valuable data for students of spiritual awakening to consider. What validity can be assigned to Jones’s meta-narrative about the pride that went before the Confederate destruction, the consequent humbling of Southern soldiers, and the receptiveness to the movement of the Holy Spirit? Do wars tend historically to end spiritual awakenings, or merely to transfer them into the armed forces along with the attention of the nation?

Is the foxhole transformation of atheists an opportunity for lasting spiritual change? Is such an opportunity before this nation at war today?

Like many such primary source documents, Christ in the Camp is of irreplaceable value. Among Baptist historians, biographers of John A. Broaddus, J. B. Jeter, C. H. Toy, and other contemporary Southern Baptist grandees will find pertinent material in this volume. The activities of the American Bible Society and the various tract and colportage societies appear prominently in the book, and therefore it will be of interest to those seeking to know more about the operations of these and other missions agencies during the war. The book also serves as a corrective to popular works such as Ken Burns’ documentary film The Civil War by depicting the deep religious fervency connected with the war.

Although the role of political wrangling and racial strife cannot be overstated in analyzing the war, the conflict is equally indecipherable apart from a full and accurate telling of the religious narrative intertwined in the patchwork tale of our nation’s great internecine conflict. Christ in the Camp should be required reading for the secular historian of the period as well as for the religious historian.

The book suffers from profound weaknesses as well. As much light as Jones’ book sheds upon the 1860s, it may reveal even more about the 1880s and from the closing paragraphs of the main body ring the words, “A great deal has been written about ‘the New South’ and its wonderful prosperity. . . , [but it] has been brought about, not so much by foreign [including Northern] immigration or foreign capital. . . , as by the pluck, energy, skill, and patient industry . . . of the ‘Men in Gray’”(462). Jones transparently uses the revivals that took place during the war to foster and defend a regional pride couched in the covert assertion that Southern soldiers were more spiritually devout than their Northern counterparts. Spiritual awakenings also took place among Union soldiers, as evidenced in such surviving records as the diaries of Elisha 129

Hunt Rhodes. A more reliable history is available in Steven E. Woodworth, While God Is Marching On: The Religious World of Civil War Soldiers (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2001).

Students of the post-Reconstruction period will recognize Jones’s writing as an exemplar of Lost Cause propaganda. The martial defeat of the Confederacy was reinterpreted as the anvil used by God to forge a more resilient South in its spiritual and cultural aspects. To unveil Jones’s agenda is not to question the reality of the revival. Thousands of boys and men were saved in these revival efforts, and they went on to lead the Southern Baptist Convention and the other institutions of Southern society until well into the Progressive Era. Many of them were also influenced deeply by the thinking of J. William Jones and men like him. Christ in the Camp and the view of the Southern revival it embodies is therefore useful to any student who wishes to understand the first century of the Southern Baptist Convention’s existence and the broader story of Southern Christianity.

Strom, Andrew. True and False Revival: An Insider’s Warning. n.p.: Revival School, 2008.

Reviewed by Don Coleman, Lifeway Christian Stores, Memphis, Tennessee, and Ph.D. student at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary Examples of counterfeit revivals abound in the history of Christianity. It seems Satan is ever the copycat, albeit an evil one, of genuine works of God. Even the Great Awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the rise of aberrant forms of revivalism with bizarre manifestations such as uncontrollable jerking, laughing, and barking. Today, the so-called revivals of Toronto, Brownsville, and Lakeland, conducted by those affiliated with the Prophetic Movement exhibit some of these same expressions, along with others far more disturbing. True and False Revival: An Insider’s Warning attempts to address this issue and to define the characteristics of genuine revival.

He writes as a true insider: Andrew Strom’s involvement with the Prophetic Movement dates back to the early 90s. He is founder of RevivalSchool.com and the International Revival List, a weekly e-letter sent to interested subscribers around the world. Though in the first chapter of the book Strom addressed his official departure from the movement, he remains unapologetically a Charismatic. He proudly affirmed, “I am still a strong Spiritfilled, tongues-speaking Christian” (5). Consequently, many of his positions in the book reflect a theological bent that is decidedly charismatic.

Strom introduced his book with a tone of regret and concern rather than a formal thesis. He wanted his readers to know why he had to “cut off all ties with the modern Prophetic” (6), and why he has worked to expose the revival ministries of Todd Bentley and others, as not only false, but also demonic. As evidence of his conclusions and justification for his actions, he offered his own personal observations as an insider (Chap. 1), those of actual eyewitnesses, and specific concerns reported in Charisma Magazine by its editor, J. Lee Grady (Chap. 2). Strom did not shy away from naming names and detailing 130

some of the bizarre and unbiblical manifestations that have become commonplace at these revival meetings.

Exposing false revival, however, was not Strom’s primary concern in writing. Five of his seven chapters were devoted almost exclusively to the issue of genuine revival. He sought to define real revival (Chap. 3), to explain some of its manifestations (Chap. 4), to present a criteria for discerning the true from the false (Chap. 5), and to emphasize the need for modern day “prophets” to bring revival to the church (Chap. 6). Strom concluded his book with an evaluation of America’s dire condition spiritually and, consequently, her desperate need for true revival (Chap. 7).

Strom’s survey of the great revivals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Chap. 3) provided a stark contrast to the “froth-and-bubble fads” that some today are promoting as revival (46). He presented a fair assessment of the essential features of revival exhibited in the Great Awakenings. The reader will not miss Strom’s point: Bob Jones’s third wave, Mike Bickle’s romancing Jesus, Bentley’s angel encounters, and Bentley’s bizarre and often violent antics in no way represent true revival. True revival is always “centered around the CROSS and DEEP REPENTANCE and HOLINESS and DEATH TO SELF—as well as FORGIVENESS [and] CLEANSING . . .” (59).

Clearly, True and False Revival is an insider’s warning issued to insiders.

That is, Strom obviously wrote for a Charismatic readership, and specifically for those involved in some way with the Prophetic movement. Most non-Charismatic readers will find themselves in unfamiliar territory when they read references to “orbs of light,” “jewels,” “feathers,” and “gold dust.” Unfortunately, Strom did not attempt to define for his readers these and other manifestations.

Further, many of the movement’s leaders referenced in the book are also unfamiliar to most non-Charismatics. Thanks to videos posted on YouTube, some readers may have heard Todd Bentley speak of kicking an elderly woman in the face and watched as he punched a terminal cancer patient in the stomach. Yet, beyond Bentley, most of the personalities mentioned would only be familiar to those inside the Charismatic Movement. A Google search of some of the names and terminologies would prove profitable for the uninformed reader.

While Strom’s conclusions concerning Bentley and the Prophetic revivals were correct, his method of evaluation was inherently flawed. Any biblical assessment of these revivals and their manifestations is glaringly absent in the book, even though Strom repeatedly urged his readers to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1, NASB). Rather than testing the spirits with “the spirit of truth” (v. 6), Strom and his panel of eyewitnesses chose to rely upon sensory and experiential methods of evaluation. This approach is far too subjective to be of any lasting value and, ironically, the one that led many of them into the movement to begin with.

True and False Revival does not represent a viable resource for any serious work on the subject of revival. Strom’s writing style is often grammatically deficient and far too colloquial for his book to be of academic value. The format is also weak. His endnotes lack adequate information and have no corresponding number in the body of the text, thus making it difficult to match the quote to its citation. Overall, the book’s primary value, namely its bold and honest exposé of the modern Prophetic Movement, is limited to a Charismatic readership.

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Ravenhill, Leonard. Why Revival Tarries. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Reviewed by Charles Pratt, Director of Missions of Fayette-Haywood Baptist Association in Tennessee.

Why Revival Tarries, by Leonard Ravenhill, is a classic read on the subject of revival. The author and evangelist touched the heart of the matter in this book. He passionately explored the reasons that keep revival from coming to churches in any era of time.

A. W. Tozer declared that Ravenhill never allowed his audiences to remain neutral on issues of holiness. He was like Elijah of old, who divided the people into one of two camps. Most of the prophets of the Old Testament shared similar results by causing their audiences to choose one camp or the other. Why Revival Tarries clearly points out the differences between those that are filled with the Holy Spirit and those that are living in the flesh.

According to the author, there is almost unanimous agreement among revivalists everywhere that prayer is the prelude to true revival. Preachers can often preach powerful messages and may persuade the people; however, unless the preacher of the Word has the ingredient of holy unction, his message may not appeal to the deep needs of the people. Ravenhill contended that the move of God comes after a preacher has prepared his own heart with proper time in holy prayer. The writer stated that unction cannot be learned, but is only earned through prayer. He further contended that it is like adding dynamite to sound biblical preaching. Without unction or the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the message of the preacher is fruitless and powerless. Ravenhill stated that prayer is essential for unction and called upon preachers to be praying rather than just playing.

The author contended that a second ingredient for a fresh wind of revival is faith. He says that faith is the key that fits every lock of Heaven. When God opens His windows of Heaven, it is for His blessings to be poured out upon His people. Our faith will unlock those windows. Again, Ravenhill used the example of Elijah to express the passion of hot prayer that can unlock the power of God upon any man of God. Another example that Ravenhill cited was that of Ezekiel. He used this example to prove that nothing is impossible for God as the Lord asked the prophet if the cemetery of dry bones could live again. While it was impossible with man, it was not with God and with a man of God who sincerely believed the Lord. Ezekiel learned a great lesson by exercising his faith in Almighty God so that even the curse of death had no power over an anointed man of God. The author said that Ezekiel did not mistake commotion for creation, nor action for unction, nor rattle for revival. F. B. Meyer said that Jesus waited for the anointing of the Holy Spirit before He went out to preach; thus, no young man ought to preach until he too has been anointed by the Holy Ghost.

Ravenhill contended that revival tarries because of the cheapening of the gospel and carelessness. When the man of God fails to deliver the Word of God without the unction of the Spirit upon him and the message, then some132

thing is wrong. He said that it may not be the weakness in the pew that halts revival, but the wickedness in the pulpit.

The lack of revival in recent years means that the church is losing the race of reaching the masses of people. Ravenhill said that if the physical birth rate had been as low as the spiritual birth rate, the human race would now be almost extinct. The Church has to rediscover the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit. We must live a holy life for God to hear our prayers. Ravenhill finally raises an important question, “Does prayer change things?” Then he says “Yes, but prayer changes men.”

This book has significantly impacted my life. I had read it earlier in my ministry, but it was a greater blessing to read it again. Thanks to Ravenhill and praise unto the Lord Jesus!

Backholer, Mathew. 150 Years of Revival-Days of Heaven on Earth. Brandon: Exposure Publishing, 2007.

Reviewed by Joseph Bresnahan, Adjunct Instructor at Crichton College, Memphis, Tennessee, and Ph.D. student, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary Mathew Backholer amassed documentation describing 12 revivals that occurred over a period of 150 years (1857-2007). The author’s documentation is the product of eye witnesses, interviews, and firsthand accounts that span ten countries on five continents.

Backholer’s purposes for writing 150 Years of Revival-Days of Heaven on Earth are two-fold: (1) to encourage [believers] and (2) to exhort the follower of Christ to personal revival. He writes, “A personal revival always precedes a local or national revival and every one of us is accountable to God” (109).

This review will address what was observed in the writer’s documentation and secondly, the author’s purpose for writing the book.

The documentation of the twelve revivals portrays both similarities and dissimilarities. The first similarity observed is crisis. The crisis might come as war, political unrest, economic decline, earthquake, or the spiritual bankruptcy of the population of a city. Secondly, the crisis would cause the need for God and effect the birth of prayer among God’s people. Thirdly, Backholer’s documentation describes revival as the product of the collective intercessory prayers of God’s family. The continuity throughout the data envisions scenes of sorrow, deep conviction of sin, the salvation of souls, and spiritual resuscitation of believers.

The dissimilarities observed target the “key leaders” and the characteristics of the various revivals. The leaders of the revivals were clergy of various denominations, missionaries (men, women, and children), and various lay leaders. Those who “led” the revival meetings differed in leadership style, purpose, and methodology. The implication is that the revivals were not dependent upon the status or aims of those involved, but upon their willingness to wholeheartedly surrender to God in the midst of trial and uncertainty.

The dissimilarities observed in Backholer’s compilation also concern the outward characteristics or manifestations of the revivals. The manifestations 133

varied from orderly prayer meetings, weeping, fainting spells, scheduled programs, programs of spontaneity, and tongues with and without interpretation.

Mathew Backholer wrote 150 Years of Revival-Days of Heaven on Earth for the purpose of encouragement and exhortation. The weakness of the author’s work is twofold: (1) Backholer’s exhortation implies that followers of Christ who do not experience “revival” will somehow suffer loss when they stand before God. The writer overlooked the biblical doctrine that God’s children are disciplined

by God (John 15; Heb. 12) and do experience progressive sanctification apart from the sensationalism of an Azusa Street Revival.

(2) The weakness of the writer’s exhortation is that it is theologically shortsighted. The historicity and experience of the “revival” is the writer’s validation apart from Scripture. For an example, the author describes the strange event of a “wooden glowing cross with the image of Jesus Christ” that took place during the Shillong revival of 2006-2007 (99). Followers of Christ live according to God’s Word, not sensationalism. The validity of revival is measured biblically, not experientially.

The strength of Backholer’s work is his methodology of compiling historical data from eyewitnesses, interviews, and personal accounts. Secondly, the author’s overview offers the opportunity for readers to consider their personal relationship to God. The book is recommended for historical reference, but not for use as a theological resource.

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J.E.M

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