Revitalize Your Church

John Wesley was only five years old when he was literally saved from a burning building. The fire nearly caused Wesley his life, but by God's grace, he was rescued from an upstairs window seconds before the building collapsed. Throughout his life, Wesley often referred to himself as "brand plucked from the fire". God surely had plans for John Wesley who eventually went into the ministry.  Another kind of “fire” strangely warmed Wesley's heart and consumed his life, sparking the fire of a great spiritual awakening that spread throughout the entire world.  This fire from God could not be quenched and came with a zeal that nothing could contain. He spread the gospel throughout the land just as a wildfire consumes a forest.  Set ablaze for God, Wesley knew he could not just “live off of the smoke” but needed to keep the fire of holiness burning in his heart.  John Wesley was a man on a mission from God who had no other desire but to spread scriptural holin...

29 years ago today, God did a beautiful work in my heart that changed my life.  I call this turning point my "Sanctuary Experience".  Allow me to share a chapter from my book, Purple Fish, which tells the story: Something was missing. I was a professional Christian, raised in a parsonage, went to church three times a week, spent summers at camp, attended a Christian college, married a Christian girl, graduated from seminary, and landed a youth pastor job; but my spiritual life fell woefully short. There’s a big difference between serving God and loving him. I was dry and lukewarm with exterior religion: self-serving at the core with an outer glaze of holiness. Though attempting to cover my soul anemia through busy church activity, Isaiah’s lament echoed in my honest moments. “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!” (Isa. 24:16 kjv). I was one of those rule-bound Christians who had just enough religion to make myself respectable and miserable. I actually got away with h...

A tattered book on my library shelf, Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians , by James Gilchrist Lawson, has been a tremendous blessing and spiritual benefit to me down through the years.  The stories of these godly men and women from the past inspire me to plunge in to the deep end of the prayer pool -- and live in the overflow of holy love. A digital copy is available here for free.

Revival is just the life of the Lord Jesus poured into human hearts.    Jesus is always victorious.  In heaven they are praising him all the time for His victory.  Whatever may be our experience of failure and barrenness, He is never defeated.  His power is boundless.  And we, on our part, have only to get into a right relationship with Him, and we shall see His power being demonstrated in our hearts, lives and service and His victorious life will fill us and overflow through us to others.  And that is revival its essence.  --  Roy Hession in "Brokenness - "The Beginning of Revival" (Herald of His Coming, April 2016)   (Photo by Hannah Wilson)

"We need a generation of preachers who seek God and seek Him early, who give the freshness and dew of effort to God, and secure in return the freshness and fullness of His power that He may be as the dew to them, full of gladness and strength, through all the heat and labor of the day."  --  E. M. Bounds (Preacher and Prayer)

The following observation of the Wesleyan Church by historians, McLeister and Nicholson, is fascinating:  "It is significant that our greatest losses occurred in those periods when our church was debating questions of reform; and our greatest gains occurred in those periods when our church was most zealous in promoting holiness evangelism."   Perhaps we should learn something from our history. (Ira F. McLeister & Roy S. Nicholson, Conscience and Commitment: History of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America,  1976, p. 643.)

Samuel Chadwick is one of my favorite holiness authors.  His little book, The Way to Pentecost , is a classic.  Lately I've been pondering this observation from Chadwick: "Prayer doesn't bring revival."   At first glance, that doesn't sound right. Anyone who knows anything abour revivals says that prayer is essential to every great movement of God.   But,  prayer, alone, does not bring revival.   If it did, then the Pharisees would have been the greatest renewal leaders in history -- they prayed a lot. However, their prayers were mostly perfunctory. The secret is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14,  "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then they shall hear from heaven. I will forgive their sin and heal their land." So, there we have it -- some important things that need to go along with our praying if we are to experience significant spiritual breakthrough. 1) ...

As a church history buff, I was delighted to recently discover Thomas Kidd's outstanding biography of George Whitefield.   It is the best work on Whitefield I have ever encountered. George Whitefield: America's Spiritual Founding Father is both scholarly and spiritual, feeding both intellect and soul.  I appreciate Kidd's candor in his fair treatment of the turbulent relationship between Whitefield and the Wesley brothers.  My tribe (the Wesleyans) usually gives a slanted perspective on this controversy.  Others (such as Dallimore) are biased towards Whitefield's perspective and fail to present a fair assessment.  Kidd does a great job going beneath the surface to investigate the deeper roots and ramifications of the conflict. This book reveals an extraordinarly gifted man, totally devoted to Christ's mission.  Yet, it does not shrink from revealing his faults and inconsistencies (such as a misguided views on slavery, a perchant to harsh judgments on...

"It's to be remembered that all revivals in the history of the Christian Church that have shook towns, cities, and countries, all began with people saying, 'We can't take what is anymore. We've got to ask God for something fresh!' " - Pastor Jim Cymbala, Brooklyn Tabernacle, Brooklyn, NY

The key to revival is not getting our churches filled with people, but getting the people who come to our churches filled with God." -- Duncan Campbell

Did some research on the 18th century Great Awakening today. 3 streams -- German Pietism, Irish Presbyterianism, and Wesleyan Methodism -- converged into something amazing that shouldn't be called an "ism". Some significant characteristics of the revival: 1) Renewal of the clergy 2) Spiritual Hunger 3)Trans-denominational cooperation 4) Non-traditional methodology 5) Heavy opposition from traditionalists

My heart was moved by this prayer for revival, and I join with a hearty "amen." Father Almighty, We trust that you desire to send revival and spiritual awakening to your people. We believe that you can revive and renew us. So we pray… We pray that a hunger for revival would consume your people. (Neh. 1:1-11) We ask that you inspire our pastors with messages that will awaken your people. (2 Tim. 4:2-5) We pray that your people will have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Rev. 2:7) Make the Church of today hot. (Rev. 3:14-16) We pray that those who have left their “first love” would return. (Rev. 2:4-5) We pray that those who have stopped gathering for worship would be convicted with a renewed sense of urgency to gather for worship. (Heb. 10:25) We ask you to call out an army of intercessors burdened for revival. (Isaiah 62:6-7) We desire to see evangelistic zeal consume your Church. (James 5:19-20) We cry out with the psalmist: Will you not revive us agai...

Adrian Warnock shared a beautiful thought on Revival from Psalm 126

God's time for revival is the very darkest hour, when everything seems hopeless. It is always the Lord's way to go to the very worst cases to manifest His glory. -- Andrew Gib

It was truly a delight to recently discover Experiencing the Spirit written by Henry Blackaby and his son, Mel. In a soul-gripping manner, these two godly men call us to a deeper walk with the Lord, and challenge our spiritual mediocry with this simple concept: Repent, Trust, Obey and Be Filled With the Holy Spirit! As I was reading this book, it seemed to be reading me! What a delightful treasure! Books like this don't come around very often. Experiencing the Spirit ranks right up there with my other spiritual "meat and potatoes" books -- such as Andrew Murray, Hannah Whitehall Smith, Wesley Duewel, Bounds, Tozer, and Brengle. (Most of those are more a hundred years old -- how exciting to find a fresh expression of the same thing!!) Speaking of treasure, if you haven't read Randy Alcorn's little book, The Treasure Principle , There's a recently revised edition available with a profound concluding chapter: 31 Radical, Liberating Questions to Ask God About Y...

In light of my last post, here's another great conference for pastors in "The Sticks" Some good articles here to challenge us as well. Looks to me like there are some differences between these two conferences. Here's my interpretation: The RHMA Conference says the great need of rural churches is revival. The Sticks Conference says the great need of rural churches is relevance . I believe we need a good dose of BOTH -- starting with revival in our hearts and relationships - then engaging our world missionally, in a transparent and relevant way. I say the great need of the rural church is Relevant Revival!

RHMA's Small Talk is a great resource -- providing a dozen relevant articles especially for small town and rural pastors. RHMA (Rural Home Ministry Association) also will host an outstanding conference in April: Seeking Revival in Rural America This is right down my alley. Sadly, I already am committed to teaching elsewhere, or I would sign up on the spot!

Great article by Bill Hybels on Preaching for Total Commitment.

A great post by Craig Groeschel Prays as much, or more, publicly than privately. Is almost exclusively dependent on others’ sermons to preach than directly hearing from God. Cares more about his church than The Church. Preaches about evangelism but doesn’t practice evangelism privately. Tolerates and rationalizes unconfessed sin. Preaches for the approval of people rather than the approval of God. Is overly sensitive to criticism. Read the rest here