Dear Revival Family,

"Let's go back to business as usual."

Imagine one of the disciples saying those words in the midst of all God was doing in the early days of the church. The Holy Spirit had suddenly descended at Pentecost in might and power. Souls were being swept into the kingdom. Disciple-making was flourishing and prayer abounding. A spirit of repentance, forgiveness, love, and rejoicing was evident everywhere.

Imagine Bartholomew or Thomas rising in a meeting after Peter shared some story of great healing, shrugging his shoulders and purporting, "As far as I'm concerned, guys, let just go back to business as usual."

How ludicrous! God was on the move. Lives were being changed. The world was being turned upside down. There was nothing "usual" about any of it, and no one wanted to return to the way it had been.

So, why have things changed? Why are we so content with the status quo when we have clear biblical record of the way it could be? Why do we just keep on going as if today's impotent church is the kind of Christianity God intends? And even when we get just a small taste of God's presence in revival, why are we so quick to return to the way it used to be? Why business as usual?

WHERE DO WE BEGIN?

Recently, I was moderating a Revival Forum for pastors at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. About half-way through, the fire alarm was activated throughout the entire hotel. It was jolting and jarringly loud.

A voice on the intercom instructed us to stay put until further notice. So we continued. And so did the annoying alarm . . . for the next 40 minutes it kept blaring. Disturbing at first, but we soon learned how to cope.

When I finished, I invited Walter Price, a Life Action board member, to close in prayer. Before he did, he made a striking observation: "The problem with the church is that God has been sounding the alarm for revival, and we just continue with business as usual."

Rev. Price then invited the pastors to pray but said, "Before you do, would you pray for revival to begin in your own heart?" At that precise moment, the alarm stopped. Was God saying to us, "When My people seek Me, I will intervene, and there will no longer be a need for me to sound the alarm"?

I'm convinced the alarm is already sounding in America. Every indicator of spirituality, morality, and even related economic and political indicators are pointing in the same direction. We need revival. Families need revolution. Culture needs transformation. Churches need the Holy Spirit.

For 38 years, Life Action has been used of the Lord to help sound the alarm, waking Christians from their spiritual slumber and setting thousands of lives on a new course. Our prayer is that believers everywhere will never settle for business as usual but will instead be filled with bold faith, ready to move at God's command, ready to take action in response to His divine alarm.

I wonder if you, on a personal level, would be willing to join us in carrying this ministry mantle. Will you be a tool in God's hand to change a life, perhaps even a nation?

More than ever before, North America needs to hear the call to repentance and revival . . . our culture needs to see anointed, Spirit-empowered ministry . . . people need to see authentic servants who live what they believe.

SPIRITUAL BREAKTHROUGHS

As you contemplate this challenge, there are many reasons to be encouraged. God is at work! Seeds of revival are flowering in many ways and places.

• The Institute of Revival and Awakening has just concluded its third annual conference, with a larger attendance than ever before, training campus leaders to carry revival principles back to campuses across North America.
• In one location in the Southeast, some 60 pastors are meeting together to seek God for revival, beginning in their own hearts. This September, all their congregants will meet together for the same purpose. They have rented the largest auditorium in town, with an additional overflow location.
• In a Georgia community, 1,000 people from 30 different congregations gathered recently for a night of prayer.
• In Wisconsin, 12 churches joined for the first time ever to participate in one of our THRIST conferences. The interest and hunger grew each night, and on the final evening over 900 people came to seek the Lord for revival. One pastor declared, "Clearly there was a mighty move of God in renewal . . . a unity among the shepherds which has never existed in this county before."
• Recently I was asked to call the annual Southern Baptist pastors' conference to prayer. I urged the thousands present to join me on my knees. Even though the convention center's concrete floor was uncomfortable, I felt we needed to get out of our comfort zones and humble ourselves. The crowd did, and we prayed Isaiah's prayer for revival together, asking God to begin His work of brokenness and repentance in us.
• A church in Illinois reported, "Our Saturday morning men's group had been praying for church-wide revival for over a year. We agonized over the seemingly lifeless spirituality of the church as a whole. We could only imagine what revival would look like, but we knew that it would need to start in our own hearts so that others could see God working in our lives. . . . Then along came your team and the THIRST conference. Thank you for sharing the truth in a way that made it to our hearts."

Do you see what I mean? There are reasons to be encouraged. Stories from the lives of average people, in "regular" churches, waking up. Responding to the alarm. Leaving business as usual to follow Christ.

I'm asking you to do the same thing. To begin on your knees by asking, "God, what would You have me do?" To stand on your feet, declaring, "God, I'll respond to Your call." What that means, specifically, is for you to discover as you cry out to the Father in prayer.

Will you stand with us? Will you take the challenge? Will you rise to the sound of God's alarm, don His spiritual armor, and join the battle?

Seeking Him as never before,

Byron Paulus

Executive Director