From a young age, I was always fascinated by revivals. I remember hearing first in a 10th grade class about the Great Awakenings that have swept this nation in the 18th and 19th century. As a teenager, I imagined in my mind what those events looked like. What did people do in those revival meetings? Why did they evoke such strong emotional responses and attracted such large crowds in century where Television and PR systems did not existed? They seem such an interesting part of history but just that: history.
By then, I wasn’t completely unfamiliar with having deeply spiritual experiences. My first meaningful experiences with God happened before I was twelve. I had experienced being overcome with tears of joy and/or just having a strong sense that God was there. I never, however, had seen that in a massive scale. I had never really witnessed this outburst of God’s presence in a group environment. All my experiences, while significant, would only last for a while and definitely not linger for days, months or even years.
It was at that time that I purposed myself to study the revivals of the past. My program of study in High School gave us an opportunity to write and extended research on a topic of our own choosing. This was a way to get us ready for the numerous paper we would write in college. That became my opportunity to delve further in this fascinating topic of history. Yet, never I imagined that this topic would not only be a subject of research but eventually coincide with a life-changing experience.
It was early summer of 1997 and my dad suggested we go visit a church in Brownsville, Florida. By then, we had heard the reports of revival. Apparently, thousands were going there getting saved, having their lives changed and many being revived. The movement had gone on then for around 2 years and it had received national and international attention within the evangelical world. So we went.
My main purpose initially was research. As I had been immersed the last months in reading accounts of past revivals, I wanted to see if this could be same phenomenon happening. In a foolish attempt to stay objective, I stood back and watched what was happening.
When we got there, the first thing the struck me was to witness a line of people standing outside the church though the service would not start for another 6 hours! What would lead people to go to such extremes? Was it really the real thing of hype?
We attended two services and could really see that something special was happening there. The joy, the sensing of God’s presence, the manifestations, they all seemed to be there. The most interesting factor was that, in of themselves, the worship leader and the preacher were not unusually talented. With natural eyes, one could not pick out what was really attracting so many people to that place.
Yet, there was not doubt that God was moving once the altar call was done. Night after night, the front would fill with people on their knees dedicating their lives to Christ. Not even in the developing world have I seen such response to the presentation of the gospel! Could this be happening in all places the US?
I came home with a lot of good research material. My paper now would not only have historical accounts but also a personal eyewitness. Beyond that, however, I was ruined. I purposed myself that if God could move this way in those at the meeting, why couldn’t I experience it? Could this be the very thing I longed for but did not know it?
That is when my hunger started. A hunger not to know or understand, but to experience personally what revival was.
