I don’t just want to talk about revival, I want to be revival. But that requires that I rely on the Holy Spirit working within me rather than someone else. I can’t expect somebody else to do all the work to usher in the presence of God and the atmosphere of Heaven. The responsibility falls on none other than myself. This requires discipline and vigilance so that I’m always aware of my spiritual state. Lance Wallnau has taught a lot on this subject and it’s so vital. I hope to share more about this in the coming days.

OK, that does it. I’ve decided to suspend my usual weekly schedule (the Monday Light and Emerging as God’s Children series in particular) in order to begin a period of regular blogging regarding revival, church culture, the mission of Jesus, Kingdom life, the nature of ministry, and all that good stuff. There’s just too much crazy turmoil going on right now to pretend it’s not happening, especially if you are (like I am) heavily involved in the apostolic-prophetic/charismatic wing of Christianity.

The latest, and very interesting, development in the whole Lakeland fiasco is a new letter written by Dutch Sheets, a well known apostle, teacher, and prayer movement leader in charismatic circles. In this letter, Dutch makes it very clear that (a) he has some severe criticism for how some of the leaders involved in the Lakeland revival at its height conducted themselves in light of what happened subsequently, and (b) he is deeply sorry and repentant on behalf of the whole body of Christ that things progresses the way they did and how the lack of discernment and the error of celebrity worship created an environment conducive to this sort of implosion.

I appreciate everything he had to say in this letter, and in all humility it sounds very much like what I would have written were I in his position. It cuts me to the quick that leaders that I greatly admire and respect, even now, are in a position where their credibility is suspect due to their link with Todd Bentley and Lakeland, and that it’s uncertain whether this fragile situation can be satisfactorily resolved at any point in the near future.

The larger question behind all of this is pretty simple and pretty disturbing: why should we not expect this sort of situation to repeat itself again, and again, and again? Lakeland was supposed to be the prototype of a new massive, continuing revival that would sweep America, and the highly-publicized “apostolic alignment” was supposed to reassure us that the errors of past revivals would not rear their ugly heads this time. So what happened? Why did the whole thing fall apart regardless of the safeguards that were supposedly put in place? Given all the hype and hoopla, the speed at which the revival self-destructed is rather staggering.

I think it’s time to say something rather unpleasant. I think it’s time to say that ministry is destroying ministry. In other words, the way is which “ministry” is being conducted as a concept within certain circles of the Church is actually getting in the way of genuine, Christ-centered, fruitful ministry which includes all members of the body of Christ and exalts the works of God over the works of men. Somehow, we’ve gotten into a habit of thinking a “ministry” is an organization built around the singular vision of a charismatic (as in personality) leader who is placed in a position of unbelievable clout and responsibility. This ministry looks a lot more like a corporation bent on material ideas of success than a group of people committed to pursuing the selfless mission of Jesus Christ together regardless of personal comfort or welfare.

The big picture here isn’t Lakeland or Todd Bentley or apostles or doctrines. It’s how we “do church” in general. Something is terribly wrong, and I think few people realize just how deeply we’ve fallen into the grave we’ve dug for ourselves. It’s time for a new definition of ministry and what it means to become a “minister” who does the works of the Kingdom.

Anyway, for the two people out there who know about my super-secret Web project, you may be wondering what the latest news is. Well, the latest news is sad: the project died due to a lack of time, resources, and motivating vision. Here’s what the project was all about in a nutshell: an innovative Christian social news + networking site that would provide really cool ways to aggregate content from exciting news sites, blogs, podcasts, ministries, and so forth with an emphasis on media and the arts — all the while fostering meaningful relationships that would encourage discipleship and Biblical training. Lots of neat ideas…WAY too ambitious. I honestly would need to assemble a comprehensive team and expend a lot of effort in order to get this off the ground.

The strange thing is that the genesis of this project actually looked a little different and somehow it got lost in the shuffle: a site that would be forward-looking and would encourage and challenge the Church in the West to envision a future age where the Church isn’t a dying institution divorced from the language, culture, and concerns of the day but is wholesomely engaged in restoration and healing and progress within the culture around it.

Here’s what I think: there are many innovative streams within the Body of Christ today: missional, emergent, charismatic, apostolic-prophetic, reformed, and so forth. There are probably more streams that I’m not even aware of. The problem is that, by and large, these streams are not talking to each other — or if they are, it’s largely on a footing of either distrust or sheer ignorance. And so we come to an inescapable conclusion: if we’re expecting to reach non-Christians or former Christians with the Gospel and convince them that the Church is the place to be, then we need to be doing a much better job of understanding and articulating what the Church actually is (and is not) and what its primary purpose is in relation to people’s everyday milieu.

I am a strong advocate of unity within the Church (see my three-part essay on Thoughts of Resurrection for more on this topic), and one of the ways I would like to see unity in action is within the process of taking a hard look at how we “do church” and which ways we can embrace change, uncertainty, innovation, and Spirit-led renewal in order to effect a positive and greater impact on the world around us.

In other words, I wonder what it would look like if Brian McLaren, Bill Johnson, Rick Warren, Frank Viola, and N.T. Wright all got in a room together and talked about the state of the Church. Just a thought. (And if you don’t know who some or all of those people are, that proves my point exactly. We need more cross-pollination!)

So there’s a brief peak into my brain today. What is the solution to this conundrum? That’s something I’m still working on. If it ends up becoming a new project, that’s awesome, but if not, I’m confident someone else will pick up the baton. At any rate, I will continue to post my thoughts here on this blog over the next few months as I wrestle with these intriguing questions.

What do you think?

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

I haven’t yet finished the book, so I’ll refrain from judgement until I do, but given my past experience with American “churchianity”, I’m not exactly ready to go burn the authors at the stake. Frankly, I once thought that it was time to take the church out back and shoot it. Stick a fork in it, it’s done. So I find it highly fascinating to discover that all the things I thought were bizarre about church practices actually have little-to-nothing to do with the original Church planted by Jesus Christ and the first-century Apostles.

That being said, I fully admit I love the church I am a part of, Grace Fellowship. I play recorders and whistles in the worship band on Sunday mornings, and I think we have been blessed with amazing, Spirit-led leadership and preaching that has brought forth real transformation in our community. So I’m not ready to give up on the whole kit and caboodle just yet. Although, truth be told, I personally have experienced more spiritual growth and prophetic blessing in our small group meetings and one-to-one interactions than I have in the Sunday services. But I see Sunday as the time when the people of the church can gather corporately to praise God and be challenged in their walk, and it’s a wonderful highlight to look forward to during the work week. Good stuff.

To answer my post title, I don’t think it’s time to kill the typical American church just yet. But it’s very much time to kneel face-down before Almighty God and humbly beg Him to show us where we’ve screwed up in our traditions and how we can move into a new era of Christ-centered, Spirit-led, transformation-focused, empowered, glory-filled, Kingdom-of-God Church!

Honestly, I had no idea who Ben was or practically how this event event got started before I came. I don’t even remember where I found the link to the initial information, but literally my impression a number of months back was like “Hey, some dude thinks he’s gonna put on a conference and Mark Batterson’s gonna show up. Sick.” I figured what the hey and signed up. Of course, the official Web site looked pretty slick once it went online and some of the other speakers were pretty notable as well, so both Shayne and I were jazzed to come.

I got to hear more about Ben and RCC at the conference today and actually was able to meet with him and chat in person which was fun. Seems like a super guy. He said the original idea was that maybe if they were really lucky, they could fill up a partition of the ballroom at the Hyatt with, say, 200 people, and that would rock. Well, it turned out God had other plans. I’d say there were at least 1,000 people there. The whole ballroom was packed. No partition necessary.

Mark Batterson, lead pastor at National Community Church, was brilliant as I expected, but the thing I appreciated more than anything else about him wasn’t what he said but the reasons behind what he said. Here is a man who really cares deeply about chasing after God and doesn’t consider his present condition or that of his team, his church, or his congregation as any kind of role model to emulate like it’s a finished product. He said point-blank that he was a work-in-progress and they’re still trying to figure out what they’re doing, and I believed his sincerity. God is indeed doing a mighty work in their midst, and I have no doubt that as long as Mark and the rest of NCC chase hard after God no matter the cost, without fear, and with conviction of heart and a complete abandonment to the Holy Spirit, they will go places they haven’t even dreamed of yet.

I’ll post some notes on what he talked about along with the other speakers in a (near) future post. Before I close this one though, I’d like to give a shoutout to the other presenters who particularly spoke to me and then finish off with some general impressions of the conference.

Vince Antonucci was a blast. Kind of daft in the head perhaps, but very powerful and God-centered in his exhortation. His personal background was that of an extremely “un-churched” variety, so he had a great and important perspective to share on the sometimes bizarre world of Christendom here in America and how vital it is that we focus on going out and saving people who are truly in need of a savior instead of catering to the weaknesses and comfort levels of seasoned churchgoers.

Darrin Patrick presented a challenging message about idolatry and how we often fall back on the desires of our human nature instead of relying on the One who is greater than anything we might treasure, worship, or give our allegiance to here on the earth. Until we seek out the root sin of idolatry in our lives, we will not be able to accomplish the mission God has for us.

Finally, but certainly not exclusively, I really enjoyed seeing Perry Noble in the flesh. I’d heard of him and heard him in a podcast interview recently, but his preaching in person was off the charts. God is really using him in an awesome way to speak to the state of the Church today. I can’t even go into all that he talked about, but basically his message was that if we’re not walking close to Jesus everyday and intensely seeking revelation from the Holy Spirit so that we can accomplish the work of the Father just like Jesus did, we might as well just give up now and throw in the towel. If we KNOW we are called by God to be in serious church ministry and leadership (and the calling has to be real and genuine), then we have to walk in that calling and claim the authority that God has for us to do what He has called us to do. Powerful, powerful stuff, and it absolutely convicted me to reaffirm what God has called me to do in my own life and not be afraid to chase after it wholeheartedly!

Overall, the conference was very, very good and honoring to God, and I truly hope it happens again next year. A few additional thoughts: these leaders are considered to be on the cutting edge of mainstream evangelicalism today, and being a fervent believer in the charismatic movement and the even narrower world of the apostolic-prophetic movement, I went in with a degree of curiosity mixed with trepidation to see if I would leave excited or frustrated. I’m happy to say that I perceive that the state of the church at large is strong if this is where it’s going. However, I am still somewhat sorrowful that the incredible supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are not given the limelight they deserve and that people generally aren’t focusing on His outpourings in these circles. I see glimmers of hope though, and I know that Mark and possibly a few of the other folks there are “closet charismatics” who really are trying to walk out what the Holy Spirit is showing them, so I’m trusting God to work everything out in his good timing and that revival will not pass by the evangelical church as a whole.

And with that sentiment, I say Goodnight and God Bless. See you next week!

For starters, I am a big believer in content aggregation. There are many well-established sites out there that host user content, and sometimes your own site is the best host. When it comes to blogging, video, podcasts, and so forth, it’s pretty hard to reinvent the wheel and make a splash these days. However, the pain point has shifted from how to host content to how to find quality content. Just go to YouTube.com sometime and you’ll see what I mean. Finding stuff that is meaningful to you and actually challenges your mind and your spirit is hard. Too hard.

So, with the idea of aggregation in mind, let’s move on to social networking. Social networking is awesome. We can quibble about how it might best be implemented, and some folks are hesitant to jump on board, but it’s definitely a concept that is in the process of reshaping the Internet. The problem I see is, again, that there’s a pain point where social networking and content aggregation aren’t always meshing very well. Facebook is a very different animal from Digg, and it’ll probably stay that way for some time.

Finally, I want to talk about Christianity. I hate to be blunt, but the Christian Web pretty much sucks. Sure, there are plenty of great church sites, and some ministries have done a lot of cutting edge stuff, and let’s not discount the growing swath of excellent Christian blogs — but by and large, there’s no great design or innovation going on that’s bringing all of the latest Web 2.0 and social networking inventions to bear and wrapping it all up in a package worthy of a TechCrunch nomination.

To summarize my post, I see a need for a service that solves this equation:

content aggregation + social networking + spiritual development – sucktitude = sweet

Interestingly enough, the first part of the name of this project starts with the answer to that equation. I leave it up to you to guess the rest of the name, as that revelation will have to wait a little while longer. In the meantime, I encourage you to leave your thoughts or any ideas you may have in regards how Christians can utilize Web 2.0 to the fullest extent. See you soon!

Before I tell you to go pick up your trusty, well-worn Holy Bible and scan through a pile of verses, I want to back up and try something a little bit different. I am going to extract what I read into a simple summary of points, and as you read through these points, I want to you to ask yourself if this is how Christianity is perceived by the world today (and when I say the “world” I mean the unchurched people in the West who are not particularly friendly towards our faith).

In this passage, Paul extorts Christians to conduct themselves thus:

• Let love be genuine.
• Love one another with brotherly affection. (And of course “sisterly” affection.)
• Outdo one another in showing honor. This one bears repeating: outdo one another in showing honor.
• Contribute to the needs of the saints (i.e., those who are part of the Body of Christ) and seek to show hospitality.
• Bless those who persecute you, and do not curse them. If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if your enemy is thirsty, give him something to drink.
• Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
• Live in harmony with one another.
• Do not be haughty or conceited, but associate with the lowly (i.e., the undesirables, the untouchables).
• If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

I have a feeling that if someone walked into a community of people living together in the peace, love, and understanding that is described here, they would think they’ve stumbled onto a hippie commune rather than entered into the presence of the glorious Bride of Christ. Somehow the message of grace found in Christ has been obscured by the pride and arrogance of man, and what was supposed to be a message of freedom has become corrupted and turned into a spirit of bondage. And now those who are enslaved to the desires of the flesh and the schemes of the devil are the ones who are portraying the lifestyle of peace, love, and harmony in our modern culture.

Where did we go wrong? How has the Church stumbled so badly? Why aren’t Christ-followers the most loving, peaceful, harmonious, and understanding people on the planet? Why has Christian become a dirty 9-letter word and Pastor (which means father and is supposed to echo the lovingkindness of our Father in Heaven) become associated with a hypocritical bigot who preaches on Sunday and sins on Monday? How has the Gospel, which means Good News, become Bad News? Why does it seem sometimes like everything Jesus came to proclaim — that the Kingdom of Heaven is now here in our midst; that healing and deliverance and love and grace and joy and peace are now available to all through the redemptive power of the Resurrection of the Son of God — has been completely and utterly lost?

I get that there are hard aspects to the Christian faith, and I understand that we make exclusive and difficult claims about sin, death, and redemption. But it’s interesting to note that the central message of the four Gospels and of much of the other writings of the New Testament is focused on life in the Kingdom of God, not on hell and damnation — or even eternal life in some other plane after we die. Jesus came to proclaim Life — life here, life now. Abundant Life, with deliverance from bondage and freedom from sin and death and every evil thing done by the forces of hell. That is indeed Good News, and that is indeed a Gospel that I am very happy and excited to share with others.

So let love be genuine, as Paul says, and live in harmony with one another. May the word “Christian” become worthy of its grand heritage once again!

(P. S. In case you’re wondering, the passage I discussed above is Romans 12:9-21.)

The point of the church emerging was to leave behind the modernist dogma and narrow-minded judgmentalism and “circle-the-wagons” fundamentalism that had wrecked havoc within the evangelical church, while also eschewing some of the bland, consumerist comfort of the seeker-sensitive movement, and find a new radical path that would resonate with the postmodern community and the creative misfits of society. The point was to get unchurched people in love with Jesus and to get people’s lives aligned with the sacrificial mission of Jesus. The point wasn’t to start telling us to save the planet with good deeds and end all conflict with nonviolent peace movements. And I’m not even against all those ideas (to a point). But when I see the emergent movement devolving into yet another liberal theology/social gospel movement that thinks that every single thing evangelicals ever thought up must be abolished, I just want to hang my head down and whimper.

I think the thing that really gets my goat and chaps my hide is that the emergent church is becoming so utterly wimpy. The reason I thought church was boring and didn’t really care a fig for it years ago was because nobody seemed to believe that God had the power to actually do anything. It was just a big social club where people could come to feel spiritual. The emergent church has rejected the social club aspect, but all they’ve done is replace it with community service. Look, I’m all for giving the poor a leg up, cleaning up the neighborhood, helping widows and orphans, and so forth. In fact, it’s a Biblical commandment to help those in need. But the God we serve is so much more powerful than that.

I wonder what Rob Bell would do if a man with a withered hand came up to him and asked him to proclaim healing over his useless limb? I wonder what Rob Bell would do if a couple came up to him and told him that thirty years of marriage was unraveling because of the wife’s haunted past history with horrific Satanic and sexual abuse? I wonder what Rob Bell would do if he were on mission to Africa and came across a witch doctor who started casting spells over him and commanding demonic principalities to destroy his person and his family? I wonder what Rob Bell would do if a poor mother came up to him and asked him to pray for her dead, mangled child to be resurrected from the dead?

And thus the emergent church brings us back to where we already were with the mainstream evangelical church — professing a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. I’ve been waiting for some time to see if the emergents would “get it” and start realizing that their message of the Gospel of the Kingdom is a supernatural message of life-transforming power. Rather, all I’m hearing about is a kingdom where everyone joins hands and prays for world peace in a spirit of brotherly love, and heaven and hell are simply states of mind here on earth. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy it. Humans are too screwed up. We just can’t follow the good teachings of a rabbi, no manner how divine he might be, and expect to enter into a new age of enlightenment. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen.

So, while I applaud what Rob Bell and others are attempting in this grand experiment of the emergent church, and while I still hold out hope that they’ll find a useful niche in the larger Body of Christ, I am going to have to put my foot down and say that their view of the future of Christianity is not for me. I want to follow a God of love AND wrath, a God of mercy AND judgement, a God of forgiveness AND lawfulness. And, more importantly, I want to follow a God of supernatural power and strength who can raise mountains, lower valleys, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and, of course, preach the good news to the poor. As Adrian Warnock would say, I want it all!