I recently visited the Grand Canyon for the first time. I was awed. And curious! I had heard claims that this was the place to experience the biggest echo on earth.

I listened carefully at multiple locations around the rim, peering down into the sprawling crevices. But despite the activity and conversations of tourists all around me, there were no echoes. I left disappointed.

But later that night, I watched on YouTube as a man blew a trumpet from the depths of the canyon, followed by almost indescribable reverberations! Somewhere, a hiker had risked the arduous journey to the canyon floor in order to be in position to issue that resounding blast.

More than 2,000 years ago, Jesus risked everything and descended to earth to sound the sweet note of redemption and reconciliation. Because of His death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit was poured out, and spiritual power now continually reverberates through history. In this sense, all revivals are echoes of Pentecost.

Movements That Change the World

Recently, I spent extended time meditating on the scriptural account of Pentecost. I sensed I needed to more deeply grasp the spiritual implications of this inauguration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. After much study and prayer, I have become convinced that in Acts 1–2, we are given not just the means of kingdom advancement, but also our primary method for seeking God for the Spirit's ongoing work in our world.

Now, don't misunderstand me. There are no formulas to bottle the power of God. But think with me for a few moments about the principles for seeking God to move with power that are evident in the first two chapters of Acts:

Movements ...

... begin by not moving (1:12-14; 2:1). The disciples spent days and nights praying in the upper room and waiting for the promised Holy Spirit. Are you willing to stop the crazy pace of serving and laboring, long enough to truly wait on God for the power and unction of His Holy Spirit?

... must be experienced before they are exported (2:3-11). The disciples engaged in no public proclamation about Jesus until they first experienced the filling of the Spirit for themselves. Are you talking about God without having first personally experienced Him?

... are messy (2:12). After the Spirit fell upon them, the disciples were falsely accused of being drunk. Misperceptions, misrepresentation, and false accusations accompany every great work of God. Are you willing to be maligned or misunderstood for Jesus' sake?

... are Word-driven (2:16-21, 25-28, 34-35). Peter's sermon included large segments of Scripture. Are you someone who loves and shares God's Word?

... are Christ-exalting (2:36, 38). The focal point of the disciples' communication was Jesus Christ. Do people leave interactions with you focused on Jesus?

... accelerate through life-change stories (2:11, 43, 47). It was the radical life-change occurring within ordinary people that gave credibility and notoriety to the early church; and that's still true today. Earlier this year, a public high school valedictorian changed her carefully prepared speech just 20 hours before she delivered it. Why? Because God met with her in the midst of revival the evening prior, and she was compelled to seek forgiveness and share her moving story with the entire audience. When was the last time you told your story of God's redemptive power?

... are marked by awe (2:43). As Peter preached with anointing, more than 3,000 people were converted. More can happen in ten minutes of the manifest presence of God than in ten years of every kind of attempt for change apart from His manifest presence. When was the last time you saw the extra-ordinary power of the Holy Spirit working through your life?

More Than a Dream

How I long for this kind of authentic movement of God to take place today! On a couple of occasions, I have actually been where the Spirit's fire fell and the wind blew. The refreshing breeze of God's presence still lingers in my soul. In fact, I doubt that a single day has passed for the last thirty-six years without my dreaming about another Spiritual Awakening sweeping the nation and world.

However, the hope of revival is more than a dream! Great Awakenings have happened on a national scale three times in U.S. history (click here to read a brief overview of the history of the Great Awakenings). And wide-scale revivals have broken out on a smaller scale on several other occasions in the last 150 years, in addition to countless "mercy drops" of the Spirit's manifest presence that have blessed our lives, churches, and communities.

If it happened at Pentecost, and if it has happened repeatedly throughout church history, why couldn't it happen again? Why not now, and why not through you and me?

OneCry

This past spring, knowing that Life Action Ministries was about to celebrate 40 years of igniting movements of authentic Christianity across America, I took an extended time away to seek God for fresh vision to lead this ministry into the next decade.

Building on Life Action's legacy of calling believers to transformation through repentance, brokenness, confession, and divine intervention, I asked God what it was going to take to set the sails and catch the wind of another sweeping spiritual revival in America and beyond.

God impressed on me the simple emphases of intercession, proclamation, and leadership that propelled the movement of God in Acts 1–2. And then an action plan for serious God-seekers to unite in a fervent call for spiritual awakening began to take shape in my mind.

The OneCry initiative entails enlisting, resourcing, and networking 50,000 Intercessors, 5000 Voices, and 500 Leaders who will make the call to spiritual awakening their primary focus until God works with extraordinary power.

We believe God is raising an army for revival and spiritual awakening for such a time as this.

Calling Agents of Transformation

Christ-centered revival is the only hope for our times. The good news is that the redemptive heart of God longs to send a sweeping revival that will cause the church to come fully alive to the glory of Jesus and call millions into the family of God.

Only one question remains: Will you passionately pray, boldly proclaim, and/or courageously lead for spiritual awakening in your lifetime?


To find out more about the OneCry initiative, visit www.OneCry.org.

When God Comes to Church

“God rocked my soul.”

That’s how one man described the power of what God did in his life during an amazing work of revival at Candies Creek Baptist Church in Tennessee, where one of Life Action’s revival teams went for an eleven-day summit that ended up being extended to nearly four weeks!

The first sign of God’s unusual work came the third night of the meetings, when two people came forward and asked to publicly seek the congregation’s forgiveness for their sin and hypocrisy. Through their honesty and humility, the Spirit seemed to descend, and a number of others followed with transparent testimony.

From that moment forward, waves of brokenness and repentance continued for the ensuing weeks. Night after night, the services were marked by great conviction of the Holy Spirit and seasons of open confession. This move of the Spirit was so deep and widespread within the congregation that there were 25 hours of testimonies given during the meetings—at the last service, 126 people shared during a 4½-hour period!

The depth of impact in lives was astonishing. One church member called it an “avalanche” of God’s Spirit. The pastor reported that, “As a result of corporate prayer and repentance, God is birthing us into a brand new church.” Here are descriptions from a few others about the impact of this revival:

• We had allowed a huge wall of indifference and coldness to build up in our marriage. We rarely touched or hugged each other and hardly spoke to each other. God showed me what I needed to repent of and the actions I needed to take in obedience. The glacier has melted between my wife and me.

• God performed “open heart surgery” on my spiritual walk, “brain surgery” on my thinking process, and an “extreme home makeover” on my spiritual house.

• The spirit of brokenness was far above anything I have ever seen or experienced. We could actually see God’s power in action.

The reverberations of this powerful work of God continue to spread beyond the walls of the church in remarkable ways. [Hear more about God's work at Candies Creek Baptist Church.] Consider the following two notable examples:

Valedictorian Uses Acceptance Speech for Repentance

The valedictorian of the 2011 graduating class at the local public high school was so personally impacted by the revival that she decided to rewrite her acceptance speech the night before graduation. In a poignant moment, she stood before a thousand people at her graduation ceremony and sought forgiveness from friends and family she had wronged, mentioning many by name!

Revival Fuels Repentance and Prayer

Pastor Jamie Work was invited to share the story of what God had done at Candies Creek with an executive committee for his denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. This committee then passed a resolution, which was ratified by the larger convention, titled “On Corporate Prayer and Repentance,” exhorting Southern Baptists to “pursue a life of genuine repentance [and] Kingdom-focused prayer times for sweeping revival and spiritual awakening ... in the hope that God would be merciful to our churches, the Southern Baptist Convention, the United States of America, and the peoples of the world for the glory of His great Name.”

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