Revival- Why it could happen

In November I arrived back to the US from a 4 year term of missions in Brasil to what I thought would be a post-election depression that would worry me about the spiritual state of the union. How could God be working in our nation when things are so bad?

Since then I have been believing that the time is ripe for a revival and that the pieces are in place.

Passion- the college age kids have a lot of passion. Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio no doubt have part in this age group seeking God through vibrant worship. A Liberty convocation service where 8000 students worshiped God really inspired me. My youngest brother is that age and is searching diligently for God's power.

Doctrine- There are great seminaries and colleges doing a good job of equipping Pastors. Even music is starting to revolve more around doctrine.

 Christ centered preaching- Tim Keller is listened to by many preachers around the world and is a great example of how to point others to Christ through sermons.

 God's love- Christians are figuring out that God's word revolves much more around love than it does rules.

 The Holy Spirit- This new generation is seeking the Holy Spirit. Baptists are generally scared by the Holy Spirit because of the possibility of erroneous doctrine, but the college age kids want to see God's power worked out through His Spirit.

 "God's not dead; He's surely alive; He's living on the inside, roaring like a lion." Our God isn't going anywhere. He wins in the end. He is calling people and people groups to Himself and the church is excited about it. Missions movements are happening all over the world and will continue to happen as long as the church shows a passion to reach the lost.

 But I am not sure that we will see a revival until we are more serious about prayer. The hunger is growing, but we need more dependence on God through prayer.

Prayer

"If I wished to humble anyone, I should question him about his prayers." CH Vaughn. My prayer life can attest to this. I constantly need boosts to my prayer life and they often come. Through trials, through decisions, through good sermons, through good worship, and other circumstances. Recently my prayer life got a boost after a couple of prayer meetings. I was in Michigan for Christmas and my cousin organized a prayer meeting at my home church. The youth praise team did a bunch of music and then we broke off and prayed. The service lasted two and a half hours and seemed much shorter. It was great to have worship right beside prayer. They go together. Worship is prayer; or at least it should be. The second service was at my brother's Joe and Jeff's church. They did an all-nighter from 10PM to 7AM. They did sing some, but mainly did some devotionals and broke it off for prayer. I didn't think I would last too long, but the time flew and I left after 4AM really blessed. What this has done for me is boost my prayer and worship life. In our return to the USA we have found the country as a whole in sad shape spiritually. However, there seems to be a generation that is excited about God and unity through prayer. I heard about a college/church (not Baptist) that actually has a 24/7 prayer service. I think they rotate every 2 hours and they always have something going on. They are praying for revival. That is amazing and I hope that this spreads because prayer works! So we are going to do a prayer meeting here in Chattanooga at Brainerd Crossroads on February 22nd from 9PM to 4AM. We are calling it a Spiritual Renewal Prayer Service. We have three area Pastors that will be speakers (Jeremy Wallace, JC Groves, Rusty Mckie), one police officer (Jeremiah Cook) and one missionary (David Carrel). We will have music from some area music leaders. I am excited about the spiritual boost this meeting can give me. I guess that may be selfish, but on the unselfish side; you are invited. Message me for more info or if you would like to help and please RSVP so I know how many snacks to get.

Bottled up

It is easy to hide our struggles; to pretend we do not have issues or problems with which we are dealing. It stems from our false perceptions of people's response. Sadly, bottling up our problems only causes more problems. When we share with others, we release all the pressure built up from keeping things within. Today for lunch, a new friend shared some issues in his life and I told him I was in the same boat. Many times people are in the same boat and usually it is comforting knowing someone is sailing with you. You are not alone. I find much encouragement in that. We miss so much potential growth when we do not share our life with others. James says to confess your faults one to another and you will be healed. When we bottle up our faults, we show how prideful we really are to not let others see any weak areas. But God uses us most when we are weak; for when we are weak, then He shows His strength.

Last night the Wednesday evening message was on Jeremiah 33:3 along with some verses in chapter 32. The Pastor talked about really calling out to God. Mostly God uses us to answer prayer requests, but sometimes God uses an extraordinary outside means. I thought about our big prayer request right now. First of all, have I really cried out to God to answer it? Not really. I am depending more on myself for the answer. I need to cry out to God for Him to answer.

Missions support-raising conversation

On Tuesday the 20th of December I had lunch with Roy Seals and Jeremy Wallace. They walked into the BX where my in-laws run a restaurant and I immediately told them that I wanted to be a part of their conversation. Roy Seals is a mission agency director and Jeremy Wallace is a Pastor. Recently Jeremy wrote a blog post about the structure of missions. All three of us agree that the system independent Baptist churches use to support missionaries is not the ideal. Actually it is far from ideal that missionaries must call so many churches and travel so many miles. Not that they do not learn much from the process, but the difficulties of doing this are unnecessary. So what is the answer to this? How do we change the face of independent Baptist missions? Most people would agree that if churches would support less missionaries for more money per month, we would save much money (millions of dollars per year). But how do we get to that point? It appears to me that some churches are willing to move to a system like that, but are completely unsure of what the transition would look like resulting in no change whatsoever. I understand. Especially as a Baptist, any change is difficult. But if we do not act now, we will continue needlessly spending money on gas and hotels when we could spend it on more missionary time on the field. What are some steps an individual or a church can take? 1. Educate yourself or those around you on the process of support raising in missions. 2. Be an agent of change yourself. 3. Churches can stop taking on new missionaries and support other missionaries for more. (I am a missionary needing more support and would tell any church; if you are doing this and it negatively affects me, but helps the overall cause of missions, go ahead, God will provide for me). 4. Do not have missionaries travel half way across the country for a meeting if you have no intention of supporting them. (Or drive anywhere, screen them beforehand). 5. Get involved in the lives of the missionaries, especially those sent out by your home church. 6. Talk to those around you about this. If you are a Pastor; express to others a willingness to approach this white elephant in the room. Do not ignore it. 7. Respond to this post with more suggestions on what we can do. I do not have all the answers. Actually, I am no where close. 8. If you love Jesus and missions, post this blog post everywhere; on your Facebook page, bottom of your emails, memos to co-workers, your bulletin, make the link a bumper sticker, and consider getting it tattooed on your forehead (a non-permanent tattoo of course). (that whole number 8 is sarcastic).

Time to Change

I woke up with a thought about change this morning inspired by an email a couple of days ago. Why wait until January 1st to make changes. A wise person with integrity will make a change when he realizes it needs to be made. Once you see sin in your life, you have several options. The best option is to repent or change. Our actions are determined by decisions we have made. Too often we just do not have a strong enough resolution to get over problems. So we need to use our stubbornness, which I know most of us have as a strong natural characteristic, and say "I will make this change." Our resolutions usually fail because we really do not want to change that bad. We hold on to that which is comfortable or what we are used to.

Reverse Culture Shock

So I really didn't think that I would experience reverse culture shock upon returning to the US. But I was wrong. I guess it was not too drastic, but there are definitely some changes to be noted and it has led to some sort of embarrassment on my part. My brother Phil was talking to me in preparation for his wedding and he said some words where I just had no idea what they meant. I really did not want to admit that I did not know what he was talking about. This also happened in several other circumstances in talking about technology. I did not know what an iphone looked like and would have no clue what is on the market right now.
Sarah told me that she was nervous about coming back to the US due to her wardrobe possibly being out of style. Of course, we all know, at least I do, that fashion follows her. Sarah was clueless after her sister told her that she had bought a certain style of clothing for Evelyn. Anna replied that she would know soon enough cause "everyone had them."
I also found out that everything is not cool anymore. It is chill. And if you are really chill, you are mega chill. Well, I have had 4 weeks here so far and am trying to adjust. But the truth is that I probably won't fit in for a while. Basically that means that we will not fit in either place, which is kind of a weird feeling. I guess that is just part of life now. So for now I am just working on reaching the chill stage. I am not there yet, but maybe soon.