Asbury, Revival, and Genesis

As I write this, the Asbury College chapel service that began six days ago as a "normal" one hour service, still continues. People are flocking to the chapel at Asbury where round-the-clock prayer, praise, Scripture and story (testimony) continue. Those who have been there describe a deep sense of the presence of God (no hype, no hysteria, just a deep transforming presence). Is this the beginning of the revival (or third great awakening) that we are longing for? Time will tell (Will this revival transform many... even transforming society? May it be...).

In Genesis, we've been talking a lot about revival over the past six years. Revival is in our soil. We're in the location of the hub of the second great awakening and where our denomination launched. We've begun to see a fresh work of God among us in the past two years. We've seen healings, answered prayer, hope.

On Saturday I posted to our pastor's facebook group the encouragement to pay attention to how God's Spirit may be at work in the midst of all we were hearing from Asbury. I also posted this on our conference page: "What if… we all entered our churches tomorrow morning with the same expectation as those who are rushing to the Asbury revival? What if we expected the love and power of Christ to meet us in our local church? What if we worshipped and prayed for one another with expectation that He will meet us and answer us? What if we confessed our sins to one another, asking for forgiveness of one another?  What if an hour long service was not enough?  What if… the Lord’s Spirit met us in such a way that the football game in the afternoon became irrelevant?"

Over the past few days I've been hearing from different pastors about how the Lord seemed to be up to something new in their churches this weekend. A baby was healed. People came for prayer. A person came in before the service to "get right with God." Prayer for the community was deep. People were on their faces asking God to do a new thing. Churches were working together, walls were coming down. 

When I think about images that the Bible uses for the work of the Holy Spirit, I think about how often those images are fragile in the beginning. An oak (Isaiah 61), streams in the desert (Isaiah 43), fire (Acts 2). 

When a sprout first pops out of the ground (whether it's an oak or a marigold) it is so fragile in the beginning. Being stepped on, frozen, or being in the wrong soil can quickly kill it. When a stream is starting, it's just a bit of water coming from the ground. It can be buried or redirected easily so that it never reaches a larger channel. And a fire? Anyone who has tried to start a campfire knows that those first few minutes of getting it going are crucial. One bit of wind, a log placed wrong, wetness in the wood... anything can cause that fire to never get blazing. 

Do I have any clarity on what God is up to at this moment? No. But I believe that when we see those sacred and fragile spouts and streams and embers, we need to care for them gently. Not screaming about them. Not demanding of them. But instead... protecting, surrounding them with expectation.

Pastors? Pay attention to the movement of God's Spirit. Don't get so stuck in "the program" or the schedule that you stomp on what the Spirit is doing. (Don't "quench the Spirit" - 1 Thes 5:19). Leave room for the unexpected. Don't demand... this isn't about creating something on our own. This is about listening and looking and responding. 

One reason that I believe there is something unusual happening at Asbury College is that they were prepared for it. The revival that happened there in the 1970s is in their DNA. When they saw the signs they were prepared to surround and protect what was happening, allowing it to flourish. They didn't stomp on it, or rush students back to class.

One reason that Asbury encourages me for Genesis is that revival is in our soil. We might need to dig a bit deeper (after all, revival was 50 years in Asbury's past, but we've got to go back further...)... but it's here, as long as we remember it. Remember it. Pray for it. Look for it. Steward it. Protect it when it is fragile... and let it flourish when it grows.