The Next Great Awakening

Most of you who read this blog do not need for me to recite to you the history of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. Quite a number of you are familiar with the Azuza Street Outpouring and the movements and organizations that sprang from it. Every Pentecostal and Charismatic organization, church and or denomination traces its roots back to what Time Magazine calls one of the 20th Century's Top 100 Events.

This movement (this includes all of us of the Spirit filled Community) began in the fire of revival. This outpouring of the Holy Ghost shook the world in a way it hadn't been shaken since Pentecost; this move of God's Spirit that propelled missionaries to the four corners of the globe with signs and wonders that followed their work…a move of God's Spirit that renewed the cry, "it's not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of God!!!

In my 20 years now as a Spirit Filled minister, I have seen wave after wave of God's power move across the state of Alabama and across the United States; in youth camps and conventions, in outreaches and outpourings; in special revivals and Sunday services Alabama alone has seen some of the most powerful preachers and missionaries, youth pastors and churches explode with fresh outbreaks of the Spirit's power..

But what I'm seeing now is far different from the movement I joined some 20 years ago!

Please understand my heart: I love the Full Gospel/Pentecostal/Charismatic movement! But the question I keep wrestling with is this: Knowing we were born in the fire of revival, why do we think we can now be made perfect by the flesh?

Before you write me off as a lunatic who simply wants to go back to "the good ole' days" please understand: I have Twitter! I'm on Facebook, I have a MySpace page! I have a website and a blog that is just about more than I can keep up with! We have a radio program that airs on seven stations across the US, I do TV and we're even looking into the possibility of creating our own Internet TV channel to air revival services from all across the country! We stream services live on Revival Now TV through Ustream in those areas that have High Speed Internet access!

We must use every tool and every means of technology available to us because I'm convinced we ARE the generation that can see the Great Commission fulfilled in our life time!

But have we gained so much recognition from "the movers and shakers" in American Christianity that believe the gifts of the Spirit have ceased to be; we think we no longer need the power of the Holy Spirit to invade our services? Folks, we need the Holy Spirit to awaken us to the fact we may be good, but we are still not good enough! Quite a number of places Pam and I go to in the US are really wretched, miserable, blind and naked…and glad of it!

Has Christian TV created such a false idea of Spirit filled living and preaching and worship we are willing to reject and renounce the spontaneity of the moving of the Holy Spirit from our churches and services?

I am not saying we shouldn't be relevant! The Holy Ghost always has been and always will be relevant! I'm not saying we should go back to slatted pews, hacking and spitting preachers and brush arbors with no central heat and air conditioning!

But is there a generation of leaders who so want to be validated by their peers they are willing to pervert the Gospel to fill a building? Is there a generation of leaders who really are convinced what was begun in the Spirit can now be made perfect by the flesh?

I know I'm going to get an email saying I am against big churches; I AM NOT AGAINST BIG CHURCHES! I am not against preachers who use the tools available to us to engage the culture, illustrate a message, and attempt to draw in a generation of young people who were raised in homes that totally rejected the Gospel and the influence of the church.

Is what was begun in the fire of the Spirit now made perfect by the flesh? I also know those who oppose the new thing God does are usually the one's who were involved in the last thing God did!

I just want GOD to be doing it and not a slick marketing campaign that is smoke and mirrors and never brings people face to face with the eternal question: "If you we to die tonight, do you know for certain you would be welcomed into God's heaven!" The call of the evangelist on my life compels me to bring people to a clear cut decision with the question: is Jesus the Lord and Master of your life!

This has all created a vacuum that has allowed mankind to substitute a relationship with Jesus Christ with other "gods", or other belief systems. People will talk about "god" all day long with you. But which god? The god of ideas and cult rock star political personalities? The god of career? The god of having my "needs" met? The god of popularity and prestige? The god of political correctness? Or the God who created the heaven and the earth, and sent His Son Jesus to die for your salvation!

This vacuum will continue to be successful for a time. But a shift is coming that will reveal we have not been what we thought we have been! And people will once again cry out to God for forgiveness and mercy and grace! That cry will lead us into the next Great Awakening!

Because the next thing God does is always greater than the last thing God did!