Revival Begins with a Cry

If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. —African Proverb

What often starts with one person crying out to God in private soon moves to a small group of trusted friends. It is in that nucleus that dramatic increase happens.

Isaiah saw this when he said, “The new wine is found in the cluster” (Is. 65:8). Likened unto the new wine, the outpouring of the Spirit is found when there is a unified gathering together, as in the cluster. We see it with the 120 believers in the upper room of Acts 2:1. They were in perfect unity. I’m not saying that an individual cannot experience revival. I believe it often starts with one. But healthy fires always spread.

“Healthy fires always spread.”

One of the first promises God gave me when I became a pastor was from Psalm 118:7, “The Lord is for me among those who help me.” Basically, His promise to me was that while there might be opposition, He would support me through those He had put in my life to help. It became obvious early on that I would live and thrive only in the midst of a team of friends. And so it has been.

Having said that, I inherited a wonderful staff from the previous pastor when I came to Bethel. He was a great man, who knew how to build a team. While it is customary for a new pastor to release the previous staff and bring in his own, I kept them all. They served and helped me in the most admirable way. Looking back, I can see that that was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done. I couldn’t have found a better group of leaders to help me serve the Bethel family. They had history with the people as well as the wisdom and devotion needed to go further. Plus, they had that X-factor: a hunger for all that God was doing.

They wanted to help me lead this church family by learning how to navigate life in the midst of this new outpouring. But they were also wise enough to know they were not equipped to do so in the way that was needed. Alan Ray, one of the key pastors who had been at Bethel the longest, asked me if it might be possible to have a private meeting with our pastors where they could be in a receive mode, instead of feeling the need to lead. If they were also touched by the power of God in a deeply personal way, they could better help me lead. You only need to be a step ahead of the others to lead effectively.

We scheduled a meeting at the home of one of the pastors. I then invited two ministry teams to come and help us: one from Weaverville, the other from Hayfork, (two small mountain communities). They came and served with great humility. The power of God came upon us in such an extraordinary way, it started the slow burn of His presence and power in the church staff.

That meeting worked so well I thought it wise to do the same with our whole leadership team, to help us all be on the same page. I called for a meeting with about 100 leaders. We met in an upper room in our facilities. I did as I had done a number of times before by talking for a few minutes on what God was doing and then inviting the Holy Spirit to come. He did, once again. This time was quite unusual in that many were touched powerfully, but there was a notable impact on one man named Cal Pierce.

What made Cal’s encounter so unusual was that he did not like what was happening in the church and was planning his exodus. He had been there 25 years, so it was no small matter. But His mind was made up, and his exit strategy was in place. To his credit, he also knew as a church board member what responsibility was, so he came to the meeting I asked all our leaders to attend. Cal was not hungry and certainly not impressed with what was happening in the church through my leadership. Like many others, he was leaving. But that night I watched as God selected him. God chose to touch this man who had little to no interest in this move of the Holy Spirit. If ever I’ve seen God sovereignly choose someone, it was that night. In about an hour’s time he went from complacent to passionate, from being distant to being in the center of it all, and from an opponent to the move of God, to a promoter and facilitator. This was an extraordinary miracle, one of the greatest I had seen up until that time.

Following that night, Cal cared about little else than what God was saying and doing. His heart burned in ways I’ve seen few people burn. He had a special passion for healing and took it on as a special assignment, knowing it was central to the Gospel of the Kingdom. I remember one night in particular. We were having a special conference, which was a wonderful way for us to serve the body of Christ at large. A woman in attendance was dancing in worship at the back of the sanctuary. Something happened where she fell and broke her foot. She was also an emergency room nurse at a local hospital and was familiar with her injury. The bone protruded away from the foot in a way that was visible to all. But it wasn’t a compound fracture where the bone pierced through the skin. She asked several people if they believed God would heal her if they prayed. Each of them, including one of the speakers, said he’d be glad to pray for her. She responded, “You’re not the one.” She asked Cal the same question, “Do you believe my foot will be healed if you pray?” He said, “Yes!” She said, “You’re the one.” He prayed, and they watched the bone come back into place. The pain left, and she was completely healed. That man, Cal Pierce, only weeks earlier wanted to leave the church. And then he was apprehended by the Sovereign One, who basically said, “I have need of you.” Today Cal heads up The International Healing Rooms, which has hundreds of healing room ministries all around the world.

Signs that Make You Wonder

One of the most tragic things to happen to those who are born again is to lose the wonder of God and the wonder of our salvation. Sadly, wonder has become an unnecessary part of many people’s lives. We’ve been born again by the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, which introduced us to a Kingdom lifestyle that is one ongoing adventure. The absence of the recognized presence of God among us is at the root. Christian activities, no matter how wonderful they are, will never satisfy the cry of the heart for Him.

“Christian activities, no matter how wonderful they are, will never satisfy the cry of the heart for Him.”

What we started to experience in those early years was the overwhelming presence of God in our gatherings. We always had a plan in place for the meeting, but were even more delighted whenever He interrupted our plans with one of His own. I remember one Sunday morning in particular when my son Brian played one or two chords on his guitar, and the glory came into the room. Literally. We were overwhelmed by God. It was around 40 minutes later that we sang our first song. An amazing part of these kinds of invasions is that we lose track of time. In other words, 40 minutes without a clear direction except the awe of God didn’t make people restless for what would happen next.

It is also interesting to note that this manifestation of presence was not recognized by everyone. Those who had built an antagonism in their hearts had a harder time discerning what was happening. Jacob’s story is particularly dear to me in that he lay down to sleep and had a dream. When he woke up, he stated, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” (Gen. 26:16). We all sometimes need help recognizing the moment we are in. God can be at hand, but our own issues make us blind to the single reality in our lives. I have seen my share of meetings where the power and presence of God were unmistakable yet unrecognized by some. One person has a life-changing experience, and next to them is someone who can hardly wait to get home to eat lunch. It’s strange to me.

Sometimes people are predisposed to see or to remain hard in heart. That’s exactly what happened in John 12:27-30. The Father spoke audibly in response to a prayer that Jesus had just prayed. The Father said, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The people’s response was interesting. Some said it thundered, others said an angel had spoken to Him. It’s curious to me how some thought there was a natural explanation (thunder) and others recognized it was spiritual (angels spoke to Him), but not for them personally. Both interpretations were wrong. Jesus told them the voice came for their sake. The audible voice was for the people, not Jesus. He didn’t need it to be audible. The Father made Himself known to the crowd by His voice, and yet they did not benefit from His efforts. Their unbelief (verse 12:37) became the filter that made them unable to hear what was spoken to them.

In the months that followed those early meetings at Bethel, I began to see things happen that I had hungered for, for as long as I could remember. I had always read about the God who healed and set free and had even seen it as a special moment in our church life. But I had never seen it on a large scale where it became the norm. This was such a moment.