Is America experiencing a revival?
God is certainly doing some amazing things in the United States, especially among young people. But I don’t think we can say a revival is yet under way.
Instead, we’re seeing the beginning of a renewal. The difference between renewal and revival is whether the move of God stays in the room or is taken to the streets. If it stays in the room, it’s renewal. If it also hits the streets in the form of evangelism, it’s revival.
Until believers have an upward concentration on Christ, an inward consecration of heart, and an outward activation with the Gospel, we’re not quite there yet.
We see the gold standard for what revival looks like in the book of Acts:
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were all filled with the Spirit and went out and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:31
Notice the pattern: The power of prayer shakes the building. Then the power of the Spirit shakes the believers. Then the power of the Gospel shakes the city.
Look at the First Great Awakening, and you’ll see all three of these elements.
Look at the Second Great Awakening, and you’ll see the same.
Then, 50-plus years ago, the Jesus Movement mobilized tens of thousands of newly converted hippies to hit the streets with the hope of Jesus!
Inspiration from Nigeria
We got a taste of revival last Saturday as Dare 2 Share was privileged to mobilize 45,000-plus teenagers to take the Gospel to the streets during the Global Day of Youth Evangelism. This happened in scores of countries around the world.
Teenagers got fired up, prayed up, trained up (renewal), and then turned loose on the streets to share the Gospel. They also used their phones to connect with their unreached friends and share the Gospel with them.
This is a huge step toward revival!
What’s interesting to me is that the United States was second in attendance worldwide.
Nigeria, the sixth most persecuted nation in the world, was number one. Thousands of Nigerian teenagers risked their lives to take Jesus to the streets during #D2SLive! This is a country where extremists regularly massacre Christians.
When I asked a key Nigerian leader why their teenagers were so bold with the Gospel, he said:
You choose who you fear. We don’t fear the one who can kill our bodies, we fear the one who can kill both body and soul in Hell. We fear God, not man.
Wow!
Perhaps Nigeria is closer to revival than we are.
God Is Moving in American Youth
But I’m hopeful for America. There’s a stirring among our young people, demonstrated in the powerful college gatherings that have happened in packed-out arenas across the nation recently. Thousands of souls have been saved, and mass baptisms have taken place!
Praise the Lord! This is a huge and hopeful sign that revival may be coming soon.
As I talk to youth leaders across the United States, many are seeing an unprecedented hunger for God in their teenagers as well. Most youth evangelists I know are seeing more teenagers come to Christ today than ever before in their outreaches and gatherings.
But we must do more than gather—we must go!
We must mobilize our young people to leave the youth rooms, church buildings, and arenas to take the Good News of Jesus to the streets, as well as to their friends and classmates.
Pray with me that this will happen.
Pray with me that a spiritual awakening of biblical proportions flows through our young people like an unstoppable river of revival.
Revive us again, oh God.
