Recently a group of about 20 pastors in the Middle
Baptist Association gathered to discuss revival. We were led by Georgia Baptist Convention missionaries
Stacy Dyer and Randy Mullinax. For the
last two years we have hosted a quarterly roundtable meeting to focus on
different topics related to church revitalization. With the permission of those attending, the
following is a general summary of our discussion. Hopefully this will help others on this
specific topic, and generally to recognize the importance of these kinds of
peer learning experiences.
Question: How have
you have experienced revival and God’s presence in an unusual way? What are the means that have helped the
church experience revival?
·
God hearing the prayers of His people
·
Fasting and prayer for revival
·
Preaching and preparing for a movement of God
·
Addressing needs in people’s lives
·
Using vocational evangelists who are serious
about leading people to encounter God.
One vocational evangelist had practiced three 40 day fasts last year.
·
Someone expressed their experience as “unintentional.” Stating, “We’ve been humbled.”
o Traditional
folks had been re-energized.
o People
who had drifted had been reclaimed.
o Growth
is steady and organic.
o Incorporate
testimony
·
Prepare for revival. Be excited and intentional. Pray for people specifically. Get to know people.
·
Carefully choose revivalist. Ladies at one church are meeting at one
church to regularly seek God for revival.
·
Without scheduling any meetings, one church is
praying that the vision catches on from others in the church. They are also using revival prayer
guides. They are praying for God to lead
them to the revivalist He wants them to use.
·
God sometimes “replaces” people in churches and
that can be helpful. Reach out to people
in the community and their family connections.
Wait on God. When people get
involved who previously were not, that is an indication of revival.
·
One pastor observed: We need a different term
for what we calendar. What we call
revival is not what you see historically.
We’ve lowered our expectations. We are just trying to get to normal. We can’t calendar revival. When we study historical revivals, they came
from lay people. We can’t put God in a
box. Our whole community being
transformed is revival. We need a new
term.
·
Only God can bring revival. We need desperation. Use the office of the evangelist (harvest evangelists). Do everything we can to enable God to
move. Expect, believe, prepare.
·
We are seeing “mercy drops.” Revival fire can be quenched and put
out. Revival is messy. People have to deal with sin publicly. It requires spiritual warfare. Opposition occurs. Revival has to start with the preacher: “I
have to change.” Be ready for the
fallout. Be ready to pay the price. Intense pain and struggle will follow. Lean on Him and look to Him. Are we willing to pay the price?
·
Do pastoral work. It’s a slow process. Pastors need to stay and live the life. Personal prayer is critical. Pray for the whole country. Some churches have a reluctance to “come
forward” and publicly express repentance.
Warn against bad teaching. Teach
the Word. Help people do discipleship in
real life. Reach out to the whole
community (not just the white community).
This pastor saw revival occur in preparation for revival and in the use
of Experiencing God by Blackaby.
Renew good practices (like VBS). Pray that God will flourish our churches.
·
One pastor had seen profound opposition in a
high turnover church. He encouraged
perseverance and humility. God purges
His church. Prayer preparation is a key
to seeing God overcoming barriers.
People are becoming desperate: “we need to do something.” This church had a very public conversion of a
high profile public servant who was impacting many others.
·
This pastor’s church schedules revival one particular
week every year. Revival is for saved
people who act like they are lost. This
pastor had seen one genuine revival in thirty years of ministry. It was manifest as an unusual presence of God’s
Holy Spirit. In his church he had
witnessed no evidence of revival in 5 years.
He is committed to personal joy in his circumstances no matter
what. He believes churches need a
vision.
·
Another pastor encouraged prayer and
preparation. Praying for the lost by
name. He has noticed positive changes in
people’s attendance patterns. His church
has had spontaneous movement to prayer.
Give people truth. Be sensitive
to God. Be true to the Word. Be positive.
·
We need desperation and change. Except God!
·
One pastor described a revival as being like
judgment day. There was true
repentance.
·
Do logistical preparation.
·
Resources:
o Claude
King’s 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting.
http://www.scbi.org/images/ministries/prayer/consecrate8days.pdf
o NAMB’s
Lay Renewal Weekend. http://www.namb.net/church-renewal/
o Fresh Encounter, Blackaby. http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Encounter-Gods-Spiritual-Awakening/dp/0805447806
o Life
Action Revival Teams. https://www.lifeaction.org/
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