Recently, Sue and I prayed together at the gravesite of LAM's founder. We took time to thank the Lord for the spiritual heritage of Del Jr., and then we prayed for the Lord to multiply the vision and mission of the ministry he birthed under God's leadership.

Not to be overly mystical, but the sun was shining brightly on the words inscribed on the gravestone. It was as if a spotlight from heaven did not want us to miss a single word of his legacy:

He knew God
He loved God
He walked with God
He believed God
He lived and died for the Glory of God
2 Chronicles 16:9


Del's legacy is broad in scope. It extends to every outreach and every heart that has been touched since 1971.

A couple of weeks ago at The Lodge, a pastor's wife shared how she came to Christ in 1976 in Buffalo, New York, when Del was leading a summit. How often could that story be told?

For those of us who came to Christ through his ministry, it can never be told enough. Even yesterday, in St. Cloud, Florida, numerous others came to Christ. They are now extending the legacy to others. It never stops.


Quips and Quotes

I have thought much about how I want this 20th anniversary occasion to impact my life. There were numerous "quips and quotes" of Del's that percolated in my heart and, to this day, serve as philosophical underpinnings of our DNA. Some of my favorite are as follows:

If knowledge is not accompanied with brokenness and obedience and the power of His Spirit, then it destroys more than it builds and helps.

We're looking for better methods, and God's looking for better men, and once He gets them, He may touch down.

If revival depended on me—my prayers, my faith, my obedience—would America ever experience revival?

As long as God is on His throne, revival is as possible as the sun rising tomorrow morning.

The only thing that is going to stop the onslaught of God's judgment in America is a genuine revival in the Church.

It is the simple step of obedience in the things your flesh doesn't want to do that smashes pride, opens the door for grace, brings cleansing, and fills with the Spirit.

Every little compromise that you are justifying in your life today will end up being your destruction tomorrow.

The moment you start neglecting Jesus, everything else in your life will fall apart.


A Final Charge

Perhaps Del's most fervent plea to those of us who remained behind came at a banquet in South Bend in 1989 where many local friends and supporters gathered. We have put together a nice media version of that moving charge. Here are some excerpts that inspire me to pick up the torch:

Our desperate cry [as a ministry], for the last 18 years, is that God will spark that divine flame that will sweep across this nation like a prairie fire, consuming everything in its way, until God's glory is once again lifted up and this nation becomes a nation under God.

It's possible that, though we are already experiencing God's judgment, and greater judgment could come, God wants to avert judgment, and He's simply looking for one person who will pay the price in prayer and in faith and in commitment, whatever it takes to get a hold of God and not let loose.

God is looking and calling for a man or a woman who will be that intercessor, that agonizer in prayer, that exerciser in faith to believe God for the revival we need in America. Would you say, "Lord, use me; I will pray, Lord; I will believe You; I will lay hold of You and not stop until You have poured out Your Spirit, revived Your Church, awakened this nation, and turned it back to God"?


A Final Prayer . . . for Revival

Within a couple of days of Del's home-going, with a burst of remarkable energy and surprising clarity, Del sat up and issued his final prayer. Since our prayers outlast us, I have every reason to believe this prayer is still echoing, not just in our hearts as those who are carrying on the message of revival, but in the heart of God:

"Lord God, send Your glory back to Your church. Send Your fire, God; turn the hearts of Your people back to You, that they may know that You alone are God."

I wonder what my final audible prayer will be? What is in my heart so abundantly, that out of it my mouth will speak? When I only have enough energy to cry out one final burden on my heart, what will it be? Will it be self-centered? Or is the passion for God's glory burning deeply enough in my heart that when I have only one prayer left, it will be for His fame to be on display in the world?

Our answers to those questions may well determine whether America experiences another great move of His Spirit in revival.