Archive for the 'Guest Post' Category
Guest Post | God is on the Move! by Bill Elliff
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest blogger, Bill Elliff. Bill is the Sr. Teaching Pastor of The Summit Church in Little Rock and Conway, Arkansas, and Pastor/Church Director of the OneCry Initiative. Bill is also a published author, having recently published One Cry: A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening with co-author Byron Paulus. His new book, The Presence-Centered Church is coming soon.
God is always previous. When someone comes to faith in Christ, you can be sure that the Wind of the Spirit has been blowing beforehand—convicting, convincing, and bringing faith to a heart by grace.
What is true of an individual heart is true of God’s work in revival. Every Great Awakening has been preceded by years of growing spiritual activity. A veteran of the Welsh Revival wrote:
“Though every revival ultimately culminates in a form which attracts the attention of all, no revival is of sudden origin. Behind the startling outburst is a process which sometimes goes on for years, a purifying and preparatory process. It was so in connection with that of 1904.”1
Most spiritual leaders across our nation are recognizing that there is more activity for revival happening than at any other period in our lifetime. God is on the move.
DESPERATION IS GROWING
In the days before the coming of Christ, “all of Judea and all of Jerusalem” were coming out to hear John the Baptist as he prepared the way for the Lord. The crowds, the tax gathers, and even the Roman soldiers were all asking, “What shall we do?”2
This past summer we witnessed the re-defining of marriage in June, the Planned Parenthood revelations in July, and the Ashley Madison exposure in August—all revealing the massive wickedness of our nation. Was this an accident? Or is God exposing who we are as a nation to bring us to such desperation that we will cry out to Him? All around us people are asking, “What shall we do?”
VOICES ARE RISING
All across the nation right now, in every major denomination there are men who are sounding the cry for revival in the church and awakening among the lost. Thousands of pastors are preaching messages on revival… messages of repentance, coming judgment, but great hope if we will “pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways.” In Prescott, Arizona a group of churches spent the last 8 weeks all studying a series on revival, culminated by a rally of all the churches so they could have a common language and common burden.
Last year, 60 revival leaders gathered for the National Symposium on Revival sponsored by the OneCry initiative. Three days were spent in preparing and praying for what we hope to see in the next Great Awakening. But not just well-known leaders. The conversation about revival is on the tongue of most serious believers. We are realizing that nothing can save us but an invasion of God’s Spirit.
AGREEMENT IS SOLIDIFYING
The National Prayer Committee, comprised of most major prayer initiatives across the nation, recently adopted the National Prayer Accord.3 They are urging churches and ministries to adopt this rhythm of praying for revival every week as individuals or groups, every month in a called prayer meeting of the church, every quarter gathering with like-minded churches in their areas, and every year on the National Day of Prayer (the first Thursday in May). Hundreds of churches are agreeing and joining in this movement.
There is a rising tide of explicit agreement that only God can save us and that we must repent and cry out!
UNITY IS BUILDING
Brent Brooks, a pastor in Reno, Nevada, came back from a conference on revival burdened for his city. He didn’t know what to do, but began to call pastors and meet them for lunch. To his amazement, he discovered there were 6 different groups of churches that had been meeting in the past year all crying out for revival… and none of them knew the others existed!
Brent was used, along with the OneCry initiative, to pull all of these groups together for a day of prayer for revival. 450 leaders came the first year and over 700 this past year, all burdened for spiritual awakening. This has led to quarterly prayer gatherings for revival in Reno and multiple initiatives. The pastors now believe that revival is coming to America and that it’s going to start in Reno!
The pastor of the one of the largest churches in Washington, D.C. publicly apologized recently for not cooperating with other pastors and churches. This led to a prayer gathering on the Washington mall with over 5,000 believers.
In the past few months, I have been invited to two gatherings that will unite leaders from every group across America—the Awaken America Solemn Assembly in Atlanta in January and a National Solemn Assembly in the Dallas Cowboy stadium in Texas, July 16, 2016. Similar gatherings have been held in Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina, gathering tens of thousands together for prayer. 10,000 students gathered in Minneapolis, MN on the National Day of Prayer.
A CRY IS ERUPTING
Two years ago, a group of Southern Baptist pastors felt so burdened that they invited pastors to join them in Dallas for two days of nothing but prayer for revival. 350 men came and the response was so great that another meeting was held the following January in Atlanta, where 450 leaders attended. Out of this, at last count, over 17 states have held similar gatherings with thousands of pastors involved.
Recently in a town of 18,000 (Eldorado, Arkansas) the mayor and city council called the town to 40 days of prayer and fasting. When outside secular groups threatened to sue them, they proclaimed they would not back down. I recently was invited to lead a cross-denominational pastors’ prayer meeting there. It was one of the most vibrant prayer meetings I have witnessed in many years.
Revive Indiana was an initiative designed to come into one city for a week, calling the people to prayer and then returning 52 days later for a time of witness and harvest. Instead, the initial prayer meeting exploded and never stopped. One volunteer said he came for 7 days and instead stayed 7 months! Now that movement has spread to seven different cities in Indiana.
THE GOSPEL IS ACCELERATING
Samuel Davies, the President of Princeton who was known as the “Apostle of Virginia” during the First Great Awakening, said that during the revival “the gospel became almighty and carried everything before it.”
The ultimate agenda of revival is that God’s “glory will dwell in our land” that would lead to the rapid advance of the gospel.4
At Princeton, the Christian Union leaders have begun to pray two hours a day, every day. The result is more conversions than they have seen in the last 25 years and their Bible groups so full that they had to close them for lack of leaders. The Christian Union is now the largest service organization on campus!
Even in the world of entertainment, the phenomenal success of “War Room” and “Woodlawn”—both movies totally dedicated to prayer and spiritual awakening—are seeing people come to Christ. At this writing, after just one week of Woodlawn, reports are in that over 3,000 athletes have come to Christ!
Everywhere around us we see the signs of God’s preparatory work for the next Great Awakening. God is on the move. How can you join Him?
- Become a voice for revival!
- Unite with other pastors and leaders in your area.
- Stimulate extraordinary, united prayer in every way you can.
Join God in what He is already doing, and be part of what He will do in the days to come.
Bill Elliff
Sr. Teaching Pastor
The Summit Church
Little Rock | Conway
Pastor/Church Director, OneCry Initiative
Twitter: @belliff
1 R.B. Jones, “Rent Heavens: The Welsh Revival, Some of its Hidden Springs and Prominent Results
2 Luke 3:10-15
3 http://www.prayerconnect.net/resources/prayer-accord
4 Psalm 85
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Guest Post | What a Balanced Global Missions Ministry Will Do For Your Church by Doug Sarver
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Doug Sarver. Doug is the Minister of Global Missions at Cross Church.
Many Pastors in today’s church struggle with balance in some areas of ministry and life. Family time, staff issues, church leadership, and budget issues all cry out for our attention and require balance in order to be healthy. Have you ever considered balance within your Global Missions Ministry?
From 28 years of leading Missions Ministries in local churches, I have learned the value of balance in Global Missions. It seems that church and mission leaders tend to lean toward their own strengths and desires rather than a biblical approach to Global Missions. I prefer to lead God’s people to a biblical model that allows them and the church to maximize their strengths and abilities. This model also allows you, the Pastor or Missions Leader, to lead with confidence and conviction rather than lead by consensus!
So, what is the model I have used for all these years? It comes straight out of Acts 1:8 and 1 Corinthians 3:6…wow that was simple. Let me explain what a balanced Global Missions Ministry will do for your church.
Balance keeps your church focused on lostness…the Acts 1:8 model
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
Jesus taught us to bring the gospel message to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. I call this Geographical Balance. There are a few of truths to consider within this model.
1. Geographical balance allows my church to always have opportunities in places for first-time mission goers and those who are “hard core”, or what I call humorously, “repeat offenders”. Places like Mexico, Central America, Brazil may be technically “reached” by missiological definition but are still incredible places for a person to “cut their teeth” on missions. If we only go to the Middle East countries & the 10/40 Window, we will potentially limit our involvement, especially for the first-time participant. Ensure balance for all levels of mission participants.
2. Geographical balance demands that I have a strong effort in my own “Jerusalem” first! You will often hear me say, “At Cross Church we will not sacrifice Northwest Arkansas on the altar of the world.” What I mean is we earn the right to go abroad. If we will not be faithful to bring the gospel to those in our own cities and neighborhoods, why would we have the privilege to go around the world? This is a simple gospel stewardship issue. At Cross Church, we presently reach about 1,500 people outside our campuses each week in community missions. We are partnered across America through church planting in 16 different SEND cities with the NAMB strategy. We also have active, ongoing partnerships in 14 nations around the globe from Mexico to the Middle East…that is Geographical Balance.
3. Geographical balance should always focus your church toward lostness. Whether it is in your own city or a city like Dubai, the focus on all our efforts should be lostness. I don’t believe in using missions as a “spiritual vacation” or only a social ministry platform. Everything we do on our church’s Mission Journeys locally and internationally should include a clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a challenge to trust Him alone for forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
Balance allows your church to include everyone…the 1 Corinthians 3:6 model
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” 1 Corinthians 3:6
Paul taught us that as we are bringing the gospel message to the world geographically, each person has a role. I call this Balanced Evangelism. This is how Balanced Evangelism will help your church.
1. Balanced Evangelism helps us to understand the various pieces of evangelism. Many understand evangelism to be when they share the Four Spiritual Laws and someone trusts Jesus immediately. Well, we must always remember in order for fruit to appear, someone sowed a seed, and someone watered and cultivated that seed. But ultimately God caused that seed to become fruit. There are three elements to Balanced Evangelism. They are sowing, watering, and reaping.
2. Balanced Evangelism gives every member an opportunity to use their gifting in Global Missions. Pastor, always ensure there are opportunities in your mission efforts for people to sow the seed of the Word, water the seed that has been sown, and harvest the fruit from seed that has been sown and watered. Our ministries give people opportunities to simply sow seed in ways like prayer walking, Bible distribution, and simply inviting people to an event. We also water the seed by doing VBS in existing churches, leading Bible discussions under Mango trees in Malawi Africa with Muslims who want to know more about Jesus, and leading Pastors’ Conferences. Also, we go to places that are ripe for the harvest of souls and call for the masses to respond to the Gospel message. This approach allows for the church member to see where their talents and gifts can best be used and opens opportunities for mass participation. Pastor, please don’t get in a rut of simply doing the same thing and only one thing year after year…give balance to your evangelism.
For the Pastor and Missions Leader, balance is the key to most of our lives and ministries. Balance is also the key to your church’s Global Missions Strategy. Both Geographical Balance and Balanced Evangelism will keep your church focused on lostness and involve as many of God’s people as possible. If Cross Church or I can assist you in bringing balance to your church’s Global Missions Strategy, please feel free to ask. Contact me at dougs@crosschurch.com or @missionman2818 on Twitter & Instagram.
Doug Sarver
Minister of Global Missions, Cross Church
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.