Awakenings

John Woodbridge gave some lectures on various revivals and awakenings at the recent SMBC preaching conference I attended. I found them fascinating for a number of reasons. Here's a few...

They actually happened. It really gave a good stretch to my gospel horizons to know this and see the impact of these movements of God's Spirit.

They were messy. If you were trying to 'plan' one, the whole thing would probably fall in a heap long before something even got started.

They finished. I was left wondering what that looked like. eg. The 1857-58 revival that impacted the entire USA to some extent... what did 1859 look like?

It was also interesting trying to think of what to take from these lectures for church life. You can't but help start thinking, 'Well that's a good idea, we'll try that' ...and have in your mind that it might just be the key to starting your own 'pet' revival. I guess this brings some of the 'uncategorizable-ness' of these things to the surface... that these are events at God's good pleasure. Questions like 'should we seek and pray for these things?' arise... for example... John Woodbridge I think said that DL Moody spent all of his subsequent ministry looking back to that 1857 event earnestly seeking a similar outpouring! Is that faithful? presumptuous? He didn't 'get one'... but you probably couldn't say that his life didn't count for the gospel could you?

Any way there are a few rambling thoughts I'm just hanging out there...

inertia

…is a word that applies to my attitude to this blog lately!

…is also the default position in ministry endeavors and the enemy of the leader who wants to lead!

…is now under attack in my life, not least because of some horizon expanding lectures at a recent conference I attended. More to follow.

 

(Thanks to you ‘goad-ers’ who have prodded me into action again… you know who you are)