Rev. Daniel Lim is currently CEO of the International House of Prayer Missions Base. Prior to his assignment in Kansas City, he served as a pastor and missionary in southeast Asia focusing on various evangelism, church planting and mercy ministries.
I am gripped by the reality of the time in which we are living in America; this hour of history in this nation. In 1997, Thom S. Rainer published a book called The Bridger Generation that provided information of the changing demographics of church engagement between four different consecutive generations. The data showed the estimated proportion of each generation reached for Christ over the course of four consecutive generations leading up to the generation born after 1984:
- Born between 1927-1945: 65% evangelical believers
- Born between 1946-1964: 35% evangelical believers
- Born between 1965-1983: 16% evangelical believers
- Born between 1984-current (projection based on trends): 4% evangelical believers
So, what does this tell us? Of your generation, only a mere 4% goes to church, worships Jesus, and holds onto the Bible as the Word of life. This generation may not be annihilated, but we’re almost there. Are we ready to call this is a crisis? Are we ready to sound the alarm and say, “We need a revolutionizing, turning of the generation in America back to God”? Are we ready to declare this hour of crisis requires a radical response, or is it still business as usual? Do we want the number to fall below 2% before we say, “Lord, help us!”? What we need in America are Acts 2 and Joel 2 responses: to cry out to God for another gut-wrenching revival in America.
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Matt Hedrick is Senior Pastor of Bethany Church in Bloomington, Minnesota and founder of the U40 Network, a relational association of Twin Cities senior pastors under the age of forty.
By and large, the Church in America is barren. The Church in much of the Western world is barren. We don’t like to hear that. We have exerted a lot of effort to prop-up all sorts of secondary goals and successes to give us the illusion of bearing fruit. But we are barren. We are not producing the true kind of spiritual fruit that Jesus tells us that we should expect or that we see manifested in the lives of the early church. Author Max Depree says, “The most important role of a leader is to define reality.” As unpleasant as it might be, I believe God is raising-up many bold and courageous leaders to define reality and acknowledge our barrenness as a people.
So how do we respond? Faced with diminishing returns, the Church has pursued greater cultural relevance and run after all of the latest strategies and techniques. We’ve become more seeker-oriented, more purpose-driven, more missional, more simple, more of whatever the latest church growth or church health solution is offering us. But none of this has worked… because we haven’t stopped to consider whether God Himself might be opposing us and all of our man-made strategies and methodologies.
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We stand at a critical juncture in our nation’s history. The light is getting brighter as the darkness is becoming darker. The greatest revival and the greatest crisis in human history are both soon to come. It is always darkest just before the dawn and so our hearts remain full of faith because know that a great awakening is soon to sweep across the nations. And though darkness is covering the earth, we look with eager anticipation to God’s promised outpouring on all flesh which will empower His people to bring the gospel to all nations. What a privilege it is to live in this awesome hour of history! (Acts 2:17-20, Mt 24:14)
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Lou Engle is the visionary and co-founder of TheCall solemn assemblies, a movement of prayer, gathering two generations, but primarily targeting young people to pray and fast for justice and spiritual awakening.
The Ancient Temple Arises
At this present moment, the second largest abortion facility in the world, next to China, is being built in Houston, Texas. This six-story, 78,000 sq. ft., Planned Parenthood abortion “Super Center” is right in the middle of four minority neighborhoods. Three of these neighborhoods average an 85% Hispanic population and the fourth is 80% Black American. The third floor is dedicated to performing late-term abortions. Obviously, Planned Parenthood is targeting these minority communities and families to fuel their abortion industry.
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Darren Davis is Senior Pastor of the Harbour Church and the director of Light International a church planting & missions ministry
After relocating from Birmingham, Alabama to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2002 to plant The Harbour Church and establish an apostolic ministry base through LIGHT International, I soon realized that I had been set up by the Lord. Set up for what you might ask? Set up to experience brokenness to a degree that would literally define my life and my calling. The Father had lured me into the wilderness and in doing so, invited me into a journey with the Holy Spirit where the Kingdom of God would become more real to me than I ever could have imagined!
It has now been seven years of a personal secret revival of sorts, where the grace of heaven has filled my spiritual DNA with whole hearted devotion, spiritual discipline, obedience and a personal call to intimacy with the Bridegroom.
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David Perkins leads the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs and is the founder of Desperation Student Conferences at New Life Church.
In the fall of 1996, I began attending a small, early-morning, prayer meeting at a local church. As a religion major at a Christian University, I had become busy with countless classes and chapels. God set my heart aflame for Jesus and His church through that little prayer meeting. In fact, I believe God downloaded more vision and strength through praying with a small band of intercessors then all of my Bible classes and chapels added together. As a nineteen year old, God captured me through a local church prayer meeting.
Today, our nation would be changed if there was a fiery prayer leader rallying every local church in the place of prayer. Imagine thousands of churches with an authentic prayer movement at the core. Prayer fuels mission. Prayer movements become mission movements. Without prayer, mission movements become stale programs. Stale programs become dead religion.
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Billy Humphrey is the director of the International House of Prayer Atlanta, a missions base founded on 24/7 worship and prayer.
Every few years there are “hot topics” that make their way through the Body of Christ. Over the last decade God has highlighted topics such as revival, evangelism, prayer and fasting. At times, as God highlights an issue, we receive the message, but we change it to make it more palatable for our personal ministry. Our editing of heavenly mandates ends up watering down the message that’s on the heart of the Lord. As God speaks prophetically to His body, it is imperative that we do not change His message but instead relay it with faithful accuracy in the fear of the Lord.
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