Revival!

Are you at all following the stories around some of the more fundamental Christian colleges in our nation and the youthful response to messages of inspiration and hope?

Some of you may know that if you attend a smaller sized conservative Christian college as a student you are expected to attend “chapel” several times a semester for college credit. Chapel often consists of worship, denominational speakers and representatives of global initiatives drawn to church related values. I recently attended chapel at the main campus of Houghton University. I teach part -time at their Buffalo based campus. The speaker that day was from a global initiative that receives and resettles refugees. Some refugees are here with legitimate causes and proper papers and others are not. This group helps them all believing that Jesus in many ways was considered a nomadic refugee and he always found time to help a stranger. The speaker’s words addressed both sides of our country’s immigration concerns, which I appreciated. I tell this story so you can see a glimpse of “chapel” if you have never had the experience.

Recently students at Asbury University in Kentucky stayed on for chapel for 16 days! After the initial program had ended they initiated worship, found their own speakers, became their own speakers and musicians in an effort to “revive” their belief systems and recharge their Christianity for all the world to see. The relatively small campus saw up to 20,000 visitors to the event believing all attendees were on a quest for truth and to make a Christian impact in the world. Smaller versions of this event were taking place in different parts of the nation.

Simultaneously a film was released called ” Jesus Revolution.” It tells the story of the late 1960s into the early 1970s when a portion of the “hippie movement” rejected the mindless drug lives they were living in search of something bigger; certainly something bigger than they were, something like Jesus! Hence the birth of the “Jesus Freak” came about. I remember writing a paper on the subject when I was in college. I saw the film yesterday. I was inspired by some of its content. It reminded me that sometimes my own version of faith can be pretty lukewarm.

Hey! “Life gets busy,” I shallowly shout. (I digress.)

Back in the day, revivals were going on all over the nation proving once again to the world that Christianity was alive and well and key to a fulfilled life. Today we sometimes hide our beliefs for fear we may upset or insult someone whose beliefs are different. Silly!

God wants our light to shine!

If a large group gathering is not for you, I am thinking that God would also have us experience our own personal revival from time to time. Helping another, praying harder, reading a new devotional, experiencing a discussion group or Bible study can all bring about one’s own personal revival. A personal revival will remind us that God exists and that Jesus offers a model to follow and the words of Biblical writings are true. That is precisely the message of any revival.

Amen to that! May it be so.