St. Patrick's Day. Don't Miss It!

Today is St. Patrick's Day. I've always liked it. It officially marks the end of winter and the coming of spring. As a kid, I loved that it was two days before my birthday (so I was already excited). It's also one of those fun little holidays with it's own little quirks (like, wear green or get pinched) and legends! But if we're not careful, we'll miss the great message about the real St. Patrick.

In short, the guy was a sincere and passionate Christian who allowed God to turn the tragic events of his teen years into an outpouring of the Gospel in a virtually unreached part of the world.

I've blogged about him before. There are other great articles about him. To state it briefly, here are just five quick lessons from his life:

1. God uses evils and hardship in our lives for his glory and our good. It happened with Joseph in the Bible. It happened with me. It happens with you. Patrick was kidnapped and enslaved in a hostile foreign country during what should have been the happiest years of his life. He was mistreated and he suffered. His trial made him earnestly seek the Christ he had exposure to in his childhood and he surrendered to Jesus. He finally escaped and found his way home. That much alone is a testimony of God's grace! But the story wasn't over. He refused to be a victim.

2. Courage is a great gift. There are so many ways Patrick was courageous. Besides enduring slavery and escaping home. He sensed God calling him BACK to that wretched, pagan island of Ireland. He took the initiative to train for ministry—and he WENT and boldly proclaimed the truth. He faced impossible odds, dangers, and death frequently, yet was never ashamed of the gospel.

3. Creativity is a powerful tool. Patrick may not have been a scholar, but he was creative in accomplishing the Great Commission. From using the simple, ubiquitous shamrock to make the Trinity understandable, to shifting tactics and going after the Irish chiefs in order to reach the masses, he was a strategic mastermind.

4. Persistence pays off. Patrick was no quitter. He just kept sharing, baptizing, and planting churches. Truth is, he proclaimed Christ in Ireland for about 30 years, saw over 100,000 conversions, and planted over 200 churches. Thousands of leaders were trained and sent into ministry. Many institutions he founded still exist today, almost 16 centuries later!

5. Social justice and the gospel are great partners. For understandable reasons, Patrick hated the institution of slavery. He fought against it and found success. But by no means did this fight deter him from communicating the good news—it propelled him in it. The two were symbiotic in making him such an influence whose legendary status is renown. It saddens me today that many champions of social justice have compromised the gospel, and many gospel-centered churches have ignored the poor and abused. Did not Jesus come to set captives free (both spiritually and temporally)? Of course the spiritual must take precedent. The truth is the gospel IS THE ANSWER to the problems that most plague mankind.

So don't buy the made up lore of ridding Ireland of snakes, green beer, and leprechauns. Know the real Patrick and ask God to make you more like him. Then you will be remembered for the right reasons and find great joy.

Praying for Revival

 by Chad Sparks on May 2, 2012 in Community, Prayer

From the Journey Blog (http://blog.journey2012.com/)

Oh, how my heart longs for God to do something big. There have been a few times that I have seen him move unusually. I know that there are places in the world where he is at work mightily even now. But here? For the most part it can seem our nation is, in the words of Robert Bork, “slouching toward Gomorrah.”

So many Scriptural references could be seen as speaking to our time. Are we experiencing a great “falling away” and is our love growing cold (2 Thes. 2:3, Matt. 24:10-12, 1 Tim. 4:1)? Are we being “given over” by God “in the lusts of [our] hearts to impurity,” “dishonorable passions,” and “debased mind[s]” only to “receive the due penalty for [our] errors” (Romans 1:18-28)?

Truly our culture resembles the last verses of Romans 1, as people are “filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (vv.29-32). We also look a lot like what’s described in 2 Timothy 3:1-5:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Wow. It’s easy to be doomy and gloomy, isn’t it? I know some Christians who seem to relish the decline or at least see it as an excuse for attempting little to change the downward drift. “After all,” they opine, “We’re in the last days.” But I refuse to acquiesce. See, we don’t know when Jesus is coming back. He could come tomorrow…but he could wait. And until he comes, the four horsemen in Revelation 6 (the expanding church, war, famine, and death) continue to ride through human history. Don’t forget, Christ has given us a commission: “Go make disciples of all nations…I am with you always, even to the end.” He promises, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.” We should look at the world like Christ did: aware of the evil (and incensed about it), yet determined to bring light. Our job is to advance God’s kingdom.

Sure, we’re in a downward drift. But I choose to believe, as did Jonathan Edwards, that revival was just around the corner. He wrote:

That infidelity, heresy, and vice do so prevail, and that corruption and wickedness are risen to such an extreme height, is exceeding deplorable: but yet, I think, considering God’s promises to his church, and the ordinary method of his dispensations, hope may justly be gathered from it, that the present state of things will not last long, but that a happy change is nigh. We know that God never will desert the cause of truth and holiness, nor suffer the gates of hell to prevail against the church; and that usually, from the beginning of the world, the state of the church has appeared most dark, just before some remarkable deliverance and advancement.[1]

So either way, our decline should drive us to our knees. That alone would be huge! I remember hearing Pastor Tom Nelson say, “Prayer doesn’t just bring revival. Prayer IS revival. When God stirs Christians’ hearts to pray, you’ve got revival, because Christians generally don’t pray.”

The more I think about it, the more I think he’s right. I’ve had my own battle with making time to pray consistently and fervently. But as I continue to study and teach God’s Word in a culture that is running as hard as possible toward depravity, as I grow older and watch the church grow less effective, as I see so many people deceived and miserable when they buy the enemy’s lies, I realize my inability. I realize that God is our only hope. I realize the only alternative to awakening is judgment. That scares me. It drives me to pray. Boldly, desperately, and expectantly.

Dr. J. Edwin Orr was the professor of the history of awakenings at Fuller Theological Seminary. Billy Graham said that he was one of the greatest authorities on religious revivals. At the end of his life he said, “After studying prayer and spiritual awakenings for 60 years I’ve reached this conclusion…whenever God is ready to do something new with His people, He always sets them praying.”

Oh, how I long for this! So I find myself praying not only for awakening, but for God to incite his people to pray for awakening. Renowned commentator Matthew Henry said the following:

When God is about to give His people the expected good, He pours out a Spirit of prayer, and it is a good sign that He is coming toward them in mercy. Then when you see the expected end approaching, ‘then you shall call upon Me’ (Jer. 29:11-12). Note: Promises are given not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer; and when deliverance is coming we must by prayer go forth to meet it. When Daniel understood the 70 years were near expiring, then he set his face with more fervency than ever to seek the Lord (Dan. 9:2-3).

Therefore, my most important job as a pastor could be to beckon people to pray that God will send sweeping revival. R.A. Torrey said, “There have been revivals without much preaching, but there has never been a mighty revival without mighty prayer.”

So I will pray. And again I plead with you to pray, too. Will you? You can anytime and anywhere. Every Thursday morning I open the church auditorium to pray from 6 to 8 am. I spend most of that time praying for revival. You’re invited to come.

Chad Sparks

---

[1] The Works of Jonathan Edwards, p. 294.

Longing for Revival

 by Chad Sparks on May 1, 2012 in Bible, Community, Prayer, Uncategorized

(From the Journey Blog http://blog.journey2012.com)

When I hear people talk about “revival,” I sometimes wonder if we are talking about the same thing.

It’s a word that conjures up a lot of different ideas. Some people imagine emotional tent crusades with boisterous evangelists; others think of a TBN special with blue-haired women and gospel quartets; and many recall a week of evening church services with verse-after-verse of “Just As I Am” sung during the long invitation.

But that’s not revival.

The word “revive” means to resuscitate, to make alive again something that has died or is comatose. It is to invigorate, to rekindle something that has dwindled, to remember something almost forgotten, to restore what had fallen, to awaken that which has fallen asleep.

Spiritually, the word refers to an unusual outpouring of God’s Spirit bringing a renewed passion on the part of God’s people for him and his work in this world. Revival is an awakening where many are converted, resulting in a sweeping, positive, cultural change to a whole region.

Or as Jesus put it in the model prayer, “Your kingdom com[ing], your will be[ing] done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

It’s happened before.

In our journey reading through the Bible, we’re about to see it in Israel as God brings David to the throne. With him, God brings spiritual awakening and transformation. It happens in Acts after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven when the Holy Spirit baptizes the church. Disciples are empowered and thousands respond to the Good News. Despite severe persecution the revival continued for some 300 years until the Roman Emperor himself is born again and Christianity becomes the religion of the empire! I could mention several more examples throughout history, including the fifth century revival in Ireland led by Patrick and the Reformation in Europe in the 1500s-1600s.

America has experienced revival on both national and regional levels.

Before our nation’s founding, our forefathers’ generation was profoundly influenced by an event called “The Great Awakening.” God used men with names now a part of our cultural heritage, like Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, and George Whitefield. Again in the first half of the nineteenth century, a movement swept across our relatively new and quickly expanding nation, resulting in an explosion of new churches and schools. The nation’s morality changed. It was called “The Second Great Awakening.”

After a stock market crash and recession during the politically toxic climate just before the civil war, hundreds of thousands in many large cities met during the lunch hour to simply pray. It was called the Layman’s Revival of 1857-1858. There were no preachers or leaders, yet more than 100,000 were saved.

Sometimes God has used great speakers like Billy Graham, D.L. Moody, or Billy Sunday. Sometimes God has moved among students in a high school or college. Sometimes he has moved in a church or a small town.

The point is…God sometimes moves people’s hearts. Significantly. God’s people are revived and whole segments of the population are “awakened” to him and changed by him. GOD is always the one who is responsible, and all of these movements are preceded by extraordinary prayer and longing for revival.

We’re long overdue for another awakening. However, if we can’t engineer it, what are we to do? There’s only one thing. Pray. I’ve been praying for awakening for 25 years. For the last three years, I’ve been praying more boldly, desperately, and expectantly. Oh, and more regularly. I think even the desire to pray comes from God. “God give me more desire to pray. God give others a desire to pray.”

Is revival something you desire? I’m praying that you do. I am praying that you will join me as we pray together for God to pour out his Spirit on us and our whole region.

Chad Sparks

How Does Awakening Come?

Oh how my heart longs for God to do something big. There have been a few times that I have seen him move unusually. I know that there are places in the world where he is at work mightily even now. But here...while there are small victories that can be found—victories for which I am extremely thankful—for the most part it seems our nation is, in the words of Robert Bork, “slouching toward Gomorrah.”

So many scriptural references could be seen as speaking to our time. Are we experiencing a great “falling away” and our love growing cold (2Thes. 2:3, Matt. 24:10-12, 1Tim. 4:1)? Are we being “given over” by God “in the lusts of [our] hearts to impurity,” “dishonorable passions,” and “debased mind[s]” only to “receive the due penalty for [our] errors” (Rom 1:18-28)? Truly we resemble the last verses of Romans 1, as we are “filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (vv.29-32). We also look a lot like what’s described in 2 Timothy 3:1-5:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Wow. It’s easy to be doom and gloom, isn’t it? I know some preachers who seem to enjoy it. But I refuse. We should look at the world like Christ did: aware of the evil (and angry about it), yet determined to bring light.

First, we don’t know when Jesus is coming back. He could come tomorrow. But he could wait. And until he comes, the four horsemen in Revelation 6 (the expanding church, war, famine, and death) continue to ride through human history. Don’t forget, Christ has given us a commission: Go make disciples of all nations...I am with you always, even to the end. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail.

The book of Acts shows us how God’s Spirit can use unexpected people and sweep through cities and regions...even to rulers of nations. History shows how God’s truth can change empires. Our own nation’s history is marked by awakenings which made us who we are. In our case, we are great because of these spiritual revivals. They gave us our form of government, our morality, and our work ethic. That means God did. Because we can’t engineer awakening. God gives awakening.

Now we’re in a downward drift. We’re long overdue for another awakening. If we can’t engineer it, what are we to do? There’s only one thing. Pray.

I’ve been praying for awakening for over 20 years. For the last year-and-a-half, I’ve been praying harder and more desperately. And more regularly. I think even the desire to pray comes from God. “God give me more desire to pray. God give others a desire to pray.” That became my prayer. It still is.

The pastors of 12 evangelical churches in Knoxville have decided to offer a simple way for people to pray. On the last Monday of each month this year at noon, a different church will open the doors for silent prayer for awakening.

So Monday is an opportunity. We’re first. I’m praying for God to give people a desire to pray. That’s how awakening comes.

PrayForAwakening.com

Amos...Drives Me to Pray

Studying Amos has been great. If for no one else, for me. I am amazed at how much Israel in Amos’ day resembles America, and how much the religious scene then bears likeness to ours. Then to hear Amos pronounce God’s coming judgment to them gets really close to home. I know we live in another time after the coming of Christ and the cross, and live in the age of grace. And that’s the big difference: when one rejects God today, he is rejecting God's law AND his grace. As the writer of Hebrews said it, “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation” (2:3)? The answer is...we won’t.

This is not good news. My heart breaks when I think about the millions of people drinking the world’s Kool-Aid, blindly on their way to eternal judgment. Some of them live around me. Their kids go to school and play soccer with mine. Some are my friends. Some are related to me. And they seem as if they have no clue. Not only this, but the “great salvation” that they are neglecting actually brings them what they are really looking for in the world’s counterfeits: Contentment. Happiness. Fulfillment. Love. Peace. Joy. Things the world rarely delivers, and never on a permanent basis. But it is so hard to convince them of this truth. Especially when the world, aided by our fallen flesh and the Enemy, preaches so persuasively that gaining more stuff...having more sex...looking more hip...etc. are all more important than having...GOD!

Therefore, many of us just quit trying to share the Good News. We see the enormity of the task and are overwhelmed. Indeed some of us do well (or so we think) to fight off the allure of the world ourselves as we occasionally lose skirmishes with our own flesh. Then Satan takes advantage and “guilts” us into silence. What are we to do?

Like Amos, we are to cry out to God. He is the only one who can help. He helps by strengthening us, his children. God has the power to trump whatever influence he has allowed the world and demonic forces to employ, by drawing people to himself. HE IS ABLE TO CHANGE THE GAME.

That is the only logical conclusion: I must ask him to. I MUST PRAY. Especially when he tells me that he, Almighty, Sovereign God somehow utilizes the prayers of his people to make things happen. It is a stunning thought—the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Eternal, Infinite God is actually moved by the prayers of mere men to accomplish his perfect, predetermined plan.

Whoa! I gotta catch my breath.

Umm...why then do I not pray?

Well, I’m going to. I’m committing myself. I’ve always believed that you schedule what’s important to you. Right now, as I write, I can’t think of anything else more important. I laid it out there publicly Sunday...I can talk about praying, but actually doing it is a completely different thing. So I need a little structure for the sake of accountability, that is, if I’m serious.

I’m going to open up the church every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday until Thanksgiving from 6:00 til 8:00 AM to pray. You’re welcome to come join me if you want. I’ve already started, in fact. There have been a few others who have come, too, but I’m really not looking to see who comes (or if anyone else comes at all). This is simply what God wants me to do.

This isn't for show. Jesus said that when you pray, go in your room in secret, not like the hypocrites who want all to see. He said that then “your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:6). I guess that’s the thing I’ve struggled with the most about coming out with this, or for that matter, even posting this blog. I don’t want any attention for me. I’m not trying to look spiritual. I do, however, want God to move. And maybe it is ok to be like Paul in this sense: he said, “Be imitators of me, as I follow Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). I think pastors should lead the way. Interpreting Scripture with Scripture, we see that Jesus didn't always pray in secret. He prayed with his disciples and in public. He taught his disciples how to pray. So did Paul. Corporate prayer is commanded throughout the Bible and is frequently practiced by the church in the book of Acts. So I say, If it helps you to pray with me and others, I invite you to come. Whether you come to the church or not...I ask you to pray.

When God Moves

It’s been a while since I spoke at an event. I all but dropped the speaking at extra-Providence engagements around four years ago when things got really busy at the church. My old friend Dwayne Sanders called me several months ago about speaking at an FCA football team camp and I hesitatingly told him I would.

Truth is I love speaking to kids…especially athletes…especially football players. There’s not a group before whom I feel more comfortable, and for whom I have more empathy. All the teams at this camp were from East Tennessee—about 300 (?) players from around eight teams. During the day they scrimmaged and worked on skills. I got three chances to speak to them. Something I like about speaking at team camps is that they have lots of kids who haven’t heard the Gospel.

I prayed much concerning this camp: about what I would say—and that God would work. The most critical meeting is the first night. It’s when I must make a personal connection with them and make the Gospel clear.

So I started by telling my “wild man wedge buster” story. It is an exercise in hyperbole about when I truly embraced the fact that football was a sport of aggressive courage—when I made the transformation from quarterback to wedge buster in order to make the high school varsity team. As the late comedian Jerry Clower would say, it’s not about telling a funny story, it’s about telling a story…funny. I go way over the top on telling this one. It’s always a hit and people call me “wild man” who hear it. It gets requested a lot.

After the “wild man” story, I talked about the facts of death and life. My text is Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16.

Sometimes God just chooses to move in an unusual way and call many people to himself. Last night was one of those times. As usual, I tried to explain the Gospel as clearly as possible, and I gave them an opportunity to respond. I led them in a prayer to receive Christ if they truly wanted to surrender their lives to him. I asked them that if they had done so—and were serious—to stand and walk out of the room (where I would meet them). At least 50 (I don’t know the exact number) indicated that they had been saved, and did so.

Wow. It was almost overwhelming for me to see God work. I get emotional when God uses me—an undeserving instrument. It is really humbling. Thank you God for saving people and for somehow using fools and weaklings to make known your truth and grace.

The Fourth

I haven't posted in a long while. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic this morning, so I'll share a thought. Today is July 4th. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. Not only has God shown me his incomparable grace by calling me to be one of his children, but he has predetermined that I be born in the greatest nation in the history of the world. In fact, the two are very much related.

Because of the tyranny of the church and rulers who placed restrictions on Christians who wanted to read, interpret for themselves, and practice the Bible, hundreds of thousands had fled England and other European nations for the New World in the 1600s and 1700s. America, still under jurisdiction of the king of England, offered the opportunity for people to experience freedom because of three primary factors: 1) the king was far away, 2) the frontier (which made imposing rules difficult) was vast, and 3) the defining majority of those who came to the Colonies were English Puritans who brought several fundamental ideals that became intrinsically American. These ideals included the following: belief in God and biblical authority, human dignity, God’s grace, hard work & capitalism, the rule of law, religious freedom (they had experienced religious tyranny in England), representative democracy (republican polity and accountability), and low taxation.

However, America in the early 1700s was still a wild and untamed place (and I’m not talking about the Indians). Because of the vast frontier and the lack of law enforcement and the great amount of liberty and opportunity to own land, exploitation and crime was more the rule than the exception. Townships were weak, and the American church was (except for a few exceptions) splintered and separated by great distances. Then something profound happened: we know it as The Great Awakening. It is when America was saved. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the Colonies responded to the Gospel in a sweeping movement of God that defies reasonable explanation. It was after this revival of Christian religion that King George III came to power and patriotic sentiments began to stir in the Colonies. It is no accident that the vast majority of our founding fathers were committed Christians, a fact that is obvious in their writings.

In the last 80 years, another ideal has come to our shores—European Socialism. It is in many ways directly contradictory to the ideals that made us who we are. It is an “areligious” system of elitism and soft tyranny. It believes in the authority of the state (read: the government), which determines what activities are favored more than others, rather than the ultimate authority of God and the freedom of individuals under the protection and rule of law. It utilizes class envy and the promise of "progress" and "change" (indeed some proponents call themselves "progressives"). It encourages people to see themselves as victims and see the state as their savior. It seeks to empower elitists by creating a dependent voter base. It depends on dependence. It penalizes personal achievement by taxing those who make a profit, giving to those "disenfranchised" who pay little or no taxes at all! The "beneficiaries," who want to keep the tax burden on the "rich" ignore all manner of social engineering, loss of individual freedom, government intrusion, and moral decay AS LONG AS THEY CAN KEEP THEIR BENEFITS that their "victim" status affords them. And they will vote for any politician who will continue the deal. The "progress" the "progressives" desire almost always makes government bigger, creates dependencies, takes away freedoms, and costs taxpayers' money.

The soft tyranny of Socialism has been creeping its way into our culture and institutions (including the press) for decades. It has grown in its influence and is now about to overthrow the America we once knew as our government takes over companies, becomes less accountable & more bureaucratic, and spends trillions it doesn’t have that our children & grandchildren will! God has been removed from meaningful discussion and relegated to trivial lines in politicians’ speeches. True human rights—the right to life itself—is being sacrificed on alter of a “freedom” to do whatever I want, as abortion is made more available and the aged are not honored but considered an inconvenience.

I am profoundly thankful to God to be an American. I am profoundly concerned that we are moving fast in the wrong direction. Pray with me that God will awaken us before it is too late.

How to Pray for Revival

One of the members of our prayer team emailed me renewing her commitment to pray and asking if there was anything to share with the team - thoughts about our prayer focus for spiritual awakening/revival in our area. Here was my reply (in part), in case any of you are interested

Thanks for your persistence regarding prayer for spiritual transformation (revival) in our area. I thought I might give you an update so you can pray more specifically. From my limited perspective, there are some potentially good things happening, and perhaps some not-so-good.

There are several different "cells" of pastors that are meeting around Knoxville (I am a part of one). This is an interesting thing. The pastors are from many different denominations etc. There is a history of trying to get pastors together, most efforts have had little results overall (sometimes the results have been more negative than positive) as the movements tend to lose their original purpose and can become commandeered by those with suspect agendas/beliefs. This latest effort has been initiated by some pastors who are solid and are determined to keep things focused. I like these guys, and I hope God will use these groups to break down the walls of mistrust, competitiveness, and territorialism that Knoxville pastors/churches are famous for, without degrading into a more liberal ecumenism or "feel-good" symbolism. Many of the Evangelicals in town (including me!) have been asked to be a part of efforts that left us feeling a little burned in the past. I keep hoping!

There is a Franklin Graham crusade coming to Knoxville the last week of April. It's a long story but the Day of Prayer folks in Knoxville had no choice but to move their date from the date the rest of the nation observes (May 1) to keep the events from conflicting. It will now be a week earlier (April 24) and they are trying to put a good face on things by saying that the Day of Prayer is "kicking off" the Graham Festival (even though the Graham folks aren't officially helping the Day of Prayer effort). I think both events could be hurt. It's got some leaders around town a little miffed. I hope both events go well. Stats show that large-event evangelism is no longer as effective, and can even have long-term detrimental effects with unchurched people in general. There is also a terrible rate of spiritual recidivism (people who evidently make insincere commitments to follow Christ and show little life-change later). Don't get me wrong. I love Billy, Franklin, and all the Grahams! I'm praying for many thousands to be saved! And we will announce the Graham Festival and encourage people in our church to go. Just trying to sense God's leading about what to do beyond this. They really ask for a lot of investment (time, volunteers, training, resources) that I'm not totally convinced is worth the probable results. I hope that does not sound pessimistic, we're seeking God's desire for our church's level of involvement. Pray for us in this, and pray that God will bring things together for his glory.

I've told you about our group of cooperating churches called the Link (we have a website now: ETLink.org). This fellowship of churches are mostly church plants and are committed to working together for area transformation. The marriage conference is our first cooperative event (http://etlink.org/roadtripconference.com/). We are making plans to cooperate to begin a stand-alone counseling ministry. This group of Churches is growing both in number and focus. We are currently defining our group and what it means to be a part. We have begun the process of planting churches together! It will take more than one church to see revival in our area—and church planting is a critical part. Pray that this group will continue to grow closer and will be used by God to bring a new spirit of cooperation to our area, and that Bible-believing, culture-engaging churches will take the initiative and lead Christians and churches in our area toward spiritual transformation. I am optimistic! Please pray.

I'm still working with several pastors to bring a seminary to Knoxville to train future pastors, planters, and other leaders. This, I believe, is a big part of sustained spiritual transformation taking place. Getting all these guys together for one meeting is proving difficult, but we will are scheduled to meet on March 18. Pray that the meeting will go well, and that God will bring a seminary to Knoxville.

As things are developing, I think sweeping, sustained, spiritual transformation requires 5 key essentials:
1. An awakening of prayer from God's people
2. A concerted cooperation of many Bible-believing, culture-engaging churches and pastors.
3. Opening an accredited seminary in our city that can serve as a pastor/planter/leader training factory, keeping the best and brightest ministers-to-be here (instead of them having to move far away to go to seminary), and serving as a "resource center" for churches and Christians in our area.
4. Aggressive planting of many new Bible-believing, evangelistic churches.
5. God must supernaturally move in the hearts of people, drawing them to himself. This is, of course, the most important essential (which underscores the importance of 1).

As one who has been praying for and working toward an unusual movement of God in East Tennessee, these are at the top of my list. Thanks for praying with me. Feel free to pass this along. I'm so thankful that God has stirred your heart to pray.

One more thing to pray about. Because she was entering an extremely busy season in her life, our prayer team coordinator has stepped away. Our church desperately needs someone who senses God leading them to head-up this critical ministry. We do not pray as we should. Satan loves this fact. Without constant acknowledgement of God's sovereign control, and persistent petition for his protection, guidance, wisdom, power and supply, we are foolishly attempting to operate on our own power. Please pray that someone will feel led to lead our prayer ministry. We desperately need to move forward in this regard. I am praying for someone (or more than one) who will boldly work to keep prayer on the front burner for our church—motivating, organizing, communicating, and creatively engaging people for prayer. Is there anything more important?

I was really blessed to get to know Lewis Drummond, the president of Southeastern Seminary who was a vocal proponent for spiritual awakening. He was writing a book about Charles Spurgeon while I was in seminary (a great book, by the way). He told a story about how Spurgeon liked to give occasional tours to people who would visit the beautiful new Metropolitan Tabernacle where he served as pastor. He would tell the visitors that they must see the power room of the great church, and lead them down to the basement to a room where there were people on their knees in prayer. "Here is the power room of our church," he would say to the guests.

We've should pray if we want to see God work among us and in our city. We must dedicate ourselves to this purpose. That's why I'm praying for someone who will consider it their mission to pray and encourage others in our church to do the same.
Sounds kind of ironic doesn't it?—praying for God to raise up someone to remind his people to pray so that we can plead with him to do great things—but I'm doing just that! It is that important!

I heard Tom Nelson say, "Prayer doesn't just bring revival, prayer IS revival!" But God's people seldom pray. Why is it so hard? I am guilty in this regard.

O God,
Send sweeping, sustained, spiritual transformation.
And let it begin with me.