Only four months later…the Florida “outpouring” has dwindled to a few hundred people at the original starting church, and the leader of the revival, Todd Bentley, is now in the midst of a marital crisis and fierce doctrinal controversy that has left the broader charismatic movement reeling. Charisma Magazine wrote up in good detail the latest news as we know it.

I want to be very clear: I have been personally blessed by Todd Bentley’s ministry in the past, and some of his closest friends in ministry are people I know and trust (not personally, but in terms of spiritual fruit and teaching). So I don’t want to make light of this tragedy in any way, and I am praying for him and his family’s recovery and healing.

But something is going on in the Body of Christ right now, and we need to discern what is happening and not give way to doubt and hardness of heart. The first question we need to ask is: is the Lakeland revival over? I believe it is. But that’s the wrong question. The real question is: is revival over? And the answer to that is an emphatic NO!

I spent the last several days very distressed about this sequence of events, and as I’ve been seeking the Lord for answers, I’ve begun to sense some things that I think are important to remember and understand. I’ll just walk through some of my thoughts in bullet-point form:

• True revival is not about a person, a place, or a thing. It is about the sovereign move of Almighty God in response to Jesus followers crying out to Him from the depths of their souls.
• True revival is not about angles, visions, prophecies, miracles, visitations, glory clouds, gemstones, gold dust, oil, and other signs and wonders. It is about Jesus Christ. It is about His power to restore all the that enemy has stolen. It is about transformation. “I once was lost, but now I’m found. I once was blind, but now I see.” That’s revival.
• True revival cannot be beamed across a TV screen or performed on the platform. It cannot be told, it cannot be explained, and it cannot be contained. Because, you see, revival is the violent move of God in glory and power, and God — last time I looked — is not a video feed or a worship band or a talking head with a microphone up on stage.
• True revival is not a church, or a conference, or a tent, or a style, or a method, or a format, or a culture, or a tradition. True revival is timeless and transcendent, because God is outside of time and beyond this universe.
• When true revival comes, it will convict people to go out. All eyes will not be on any person, place, or thing. It will be on Jesus Christ. People will not wait for the “fire” to come to their city in pomp and circumstance before they go out and minister to people in the name of Jesus. They will go out and minister to people in the name of Jesus in order to bring the fire of God down to their city.
• When true revival comes, it will be messy, but it will not be flabby. It will not be frayed around the edges. It will not focus on the biggest and brightest and best and ignore the details. The devil is NOT in the details. God is in the details. The first shall be last, and the last first. When true revival comes, it will not be about flash, it will be about substance. It will be about meeting people’s needs where they are. It will be about speaking to people in a language they can understand. It will be about being all things to all men in order to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
• Oh how arrogant to think that only the superficial gloss of “charismania” heralds the arrival of revival. Lord, forgive us of our pride, our presumption. Forgive us of our need for hype and attention instead of conviction and consecration. Forgive us for looking to men to bring us into your Holy Presence when all we need is a spirit willing to yield itself to you.

There is a shift going on…a shift in the Body of Christ right now where people are beginning to realize that the hallmark of every true revival is a gripping fear of the Lord and a powerful, irresistible yearning for holiness and purification. I felt this already when I was up at the JesusCulture conference a couple of weeks ago. More on that another time. Suffice it to say, it was an incredible, life-changing time, but not because of signs and wonders but because of God’s holy presence and the palpable feeling of intense spiritual hunger in the room that demanded a transformational response from heaven. We got down on our knees and we gave our all to Jesus, everything, without reservation, without hesitation. The conviction of the Holy Spirit was so strong that I was ready to repent of sins I haven’t even committed yet. That was a joke, in case you missed it.

So is the revival over? No! It’s just now truly beginning! Some people are saying the Lakeland “revival” was false and of the devil. I believe it was of God when it initially started. Other people are saying that the revival was real all along and the devil is now trying his best to shut it down. No, I believe that too is of God, although the devil is certainly on the offensive.

I believe God used Lakeland as a catalyst for radical spiritual hunger and has now shut down what was quickly turning into a quagmire in order for real revival to break out spontaneously, earnestly, sincerely, and sustainably across this dry land we call America. This time revival won’t be about Todd Bentley, or Lakeland, or God TV, or apostles, or miracles, or media, or glory clouds, or angelic hosts, or worship music, or prophecies, or anything else. It will be about one thing and one thing only: Jesus Christ. We will encounter Jesus, be saved by Jesus, be delivered by Jesus, be changed by Jesus, be loved by Jesus, be equipped by Jesus, and be sent out by Jesus to go do the compassionate works of Jesus in order for the world to hear about Jesus and see Jesus and be set free by Jesus.

If revival isn’t about Jesus, and Him alone, then somehow, somewhere, we’ve lost the plot.

“On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” — Matthew 7:22-23

Also, I’m making an announcement that I’ll soon be making an announcement (redundant, isn’t it?) about a secret Web site project that I’m busily working away on. Check out the latter part of the video for more on that front.

Thanks for watching, and enjoy the show!

Duck Season, Wabbit Season, Huckabee Season from Jared White on Vimeo.
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It’s so easy to get sucked into politics…analyzing every single word spoked on the campaign trail, every single eyebrow raised at a debate, comparing facts and who’s got ‘em right or wrong, taking a peak at the “other side” to see what they’re up to. The first political season I really got into due to my being of age and more interested in such matters was the presidential election of 2004. And boy was that a doozy! So far, it seems that this year people are a little more interested in a positive, uplifting message and moving on from the partisan bickering that has stopped anything productive from being accomplished, so my hopes are high for some great discussions of important issues as we move forward over the course of the year.

From a spiritual perspective, I think there is some real shaking and sifting going on in the atmosphere, and I have a feeling that there are going to be some major surprises in store for this country come November. The Spirit of God is moving over this land, and I don’t believe for an instant we are heading towards our twilight years or certain destruction. I agree with what many people are saying both at the podium and at the pulpit: our greatest days still lie before us.

Thus it is interesting to note the current battle in Iowa on the eve of the caucus that’s been raging between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. For two people who are claiming to fulfill the same role — an authentic conservative who will uphold the values of family, faith, and freedom from an overbearing government or the attacks of foreign enemies — Romney and Huckabee couldn’t be more dissimilar. At the risk of alienating some of my readers, I want to point out my personal opinion that Romney has been waging a negative and disappointing campaign. In fact, his attacks on Huckabee in particular have been downright despicable, as Romney is hardly in a position to criticize anyone’s previous political record when his was chock full of distasteful actions from an authentic conservative viewpoint.

Romney has spent outrageous sums of money to convince the people of Iowa and the rest of the country that he is the man for the job. But, amazingly enough, money still won’t buy you a presidency, and many people aren’t falling for it. David Brooks’ op-ed for the New York Times provides a succinct and I think highly telling reason for Romney’s failure: people don’t often vote for CEO candidates who have focused-grouped and market-analyzed their way into a political position. They vote for people with true vision, prophetic insight, clarity of purpose, and a mantra that resonates at the deepest level of one’s soul. True leaders aren’t invented like a mass-produced product. Leaders are forged out of character, determination, and faith.

The Republican party, and the larger conservative movement, stands at a crossroads. On one side, you have a status-quo elite who is more than willing to pander to the power brokers. On the other side, you have someone who is not afraid to say what is unpopular, to stand for things that may be controversial, and to challenge the status-quo and admit that some things just aren’t working and need to be fixed the hard way.

That’s why I’m hoping that Mike Huckabee wins in Iowa. He’s not a perfect candidate, and I’m not entirely pleased with some of his previous actions as Governor of Arkansas. But he’s a good man with a good heart, and he’s run one hell of a campaign. I’d rather vote for a flawed man of flesh and bones with passion in his soul than a manufactured empty suit, and I think this country deserves someone of principles and convictions to take up residence in the White House come 2009.

And of course the letter points out, in so many words, that our concept of God and the Muslim concept of God is totally incompatible, and therefore we do not share any theological common ground. Finally, somebody gets it! I hope more Christian groups who understand the real nature of the threat that Islam poses for the Christian world come forth to write such excellent rebuttals to a woeful letter.

I’m 24, going on 25 next month, so I’m right in the bullseye for this topic. It’s interesting to read this report, as some of it I can certainly identify with. I was homeschooled by caring parents who instilled in me a healthy sense of self-worth, and I’ve basically been working since my pre-teen years. Seriously. I have done freelance Web development and graphics design, performed music, and made real cash for years already. I haven’t even gone to college, yet I own my own home. It’s definitely a strange new world from the one my parents inhabited.

The key question is whether all this opportunity, skill development, technological prowess, and self-esteem translates to having a genuine impact on the world or simply produces a bunch of selfish brats. Thankfully, my parents always challenged me to pursue what is noble and excellent and not settle for personal indulgence and trite fluff. Believe me, if I started to act like a hotheaded jerk, I definitely knew about it.

But I can see how us kids growing up on video games, iPods, wads of credit cards, and a doting parenting style end up thinking so highly of ourselves that we think the world owes us a living and how dare anyone expect us to tow the line and prove we got what it takes. And as for submitting to any kind of authority, ha! It’s a YouTube world now. Everyone is a celebrity, and we got it all figured out.

But what if the Millenials have a point? The “adults” don’t have it all figured out. Our world is on the verge of economic, spiritual, and governmental collapse because of failed institutions that were unable to live up to their expected potential. And whose job is it going to be to fix all of this? Us. We’re starting to become the next generation of leadership. We’re now beginning to launch the companies, the churches, the creative culture, and the policies which will dominate the first half of the 21st century. We’re moving forward so fast with our new technological, decentralized, equalized vision of the world that our mindset is completely different from those people 15-20 years older. They’re comfortable with e-mail. We’re on Facebook, AIM, Twitter, Digg, and bunch of other sites I can’t even keep track of (scary, isn’t it?). Heck, we’re inventing whole new planets in places like Second Life.

I don’t claim to know what the future holds, but one thing is for certain: Millennials are not impressed with the dregs of the 20th Century. It’s a bold new world out there, and we’re going to reinvent everything from the ground up. No stone will be left unturned, and why should it? The adults screwed up, right?

Except soon we’ll be the adults…and we’ll have kids…and thus the cycle repeats itself all over again….

I hope the winds change direction and die WAY down soon!