Sustained Revival: A Comprehensive Plan for a Comprehensive Christian Revival
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What you are about to read is simple stuff, bread-and-butter stuff. It is bread-of-life stuff.
There is nothing individually revolutionary about the pieces. However, the package is revolutionary. Nothing like this has ever been attempted, as far as I know.
Someone else should have proposed this. I am a layman, a businessman, and very busy in my so-called retirement years. I have been thinking about this for a long time. No one else has come forward with anything like this. So, I have.
Here, I offer solutions to two problems that have been bothering me for over 40 years:
(1) The magnitude of the Church's task of building the institutional and social infrastructure required before there is a worldwide Christian revival;
(2) Sustaining that revival, so that it is not lost within a single generation, as all previous mass revivals have been.
I am posting this on what is a commercial Website. Why? Two reasons:
(1) I will not have to learn new software (the old dog/new tricks problem).(2) This website has been running since 2005. It gets traffic. This raises its ranking.
The higher a site's ranking, the more likely that a search engine will discover a particular page and index it. Also, the higher a site's ranking, the higher on the search engine's link list will the link to a page be. I hope that people who are interested in worldwide evangelism will discover one of these pages and thereby discover this department and its materials.
I have tested this. Within hours of posting this department, Google ranked it #1 for the phrase, "sustained revival."
I have turned off the page links to the other departments on this site. I have made this department as close to a stand-alone site as my site's software allows. I am trying to promote an idea, not a product or a service. This idea is a very hard sell, but my presentation isn't. I hope you will give me a few minutes to make my presentation.
When I speak of revival, I mean comprehensive revival: the total transformation of a community, a nation, and the world. The gospel of Jesus Christ regenerates people, but they are to serve as salt and light. They work to implement their faith in the world around them. Jesus Christ did not come to save souls only. He announced: "By their fruits ye shall know them." This applies to societies, as Moses said (Deut. 4:5-8).
So, a revival is not a comprehensive revival unless it extends deep and wide: deep into a person's mind, deep into a culture, and wide across the earth.
This site is therefore about foreign missions. But foreign missions, to be successful, must be part of local missions.
Think globally, act locally. Jesus did. His initial disciples did. So should His present disciples.
I have written a position paper surveying the problem and offering a potential solution. The solution begins and ends with prayer -- mainly by laymen. Download it here.
There is great initial resistance to adopting a program of sustained revival. Pastors may say they believe in it, but they may not. There is resistance from pastors. There is also resistance from members. This resistance must be overcome. This takes sustained prayer.
In the spring of 2020, the coronavirus known as COVID-19 struck the world. It forced congregations to go to video worship during enforced lockdowns. This forced congregations around the world to re-think the power of the World Wide Web in worship. Overnight, it destroyed all resistance to online worship. Online worship is no longer regarded as illegitimate -- second-best, yes, but not illegitimate. I have written about this change of opinion and the huge opportunities it offers to evangelical churches. My article is here.
We live in the greatest era of Christian evangelism in history.... keep reading
There are two models for a sustained Christian revival: linear and exponential. I recommend exponential.... keep reading
Members ask: "What's in it for me?" Not much initially.... keep reading
The pastor asks: "What's in it for me?" Not much initially.... keep reading
Hardly anyone pays attention to America's truckers. This is a big mistake.... keep reading
What is your church uniquely gifted to do? Do more of it.... keep reading
Every church needs a packet of materials for each visiting family.... keep reading
People want others to remember their names. This is a way to see that this takes place.... keep reading
Sharing a meal means sharing personal concern, which is basic to successful evangelism.... keep reading
Prayers should be specific. They should be aimed at changing life in your zip code.... keep reading
Each pastor must take the lead. YouTube is the obvious tool.... keep reading
Laymen must provide the prayers. Pastors must provide the leadership. But will they? What's in it for them?... keep reading
Prayer needs back-up, as any program of evangelism does.... keep reading
One size doesn't fit all.... keep reading
Prayer life is like lifting weights. Heavy lifting comes later.... keep reading
These are the heart of a successful evangelism program.... keep reading