The death of Revival

Here is an email conversation I had with Earl Creps a while back. His response to my questions are indented and are located within the context of my original email. Earl Creps is the D.Min director at AGTS. He has done a great job of compiling information about the cultural shift that society is undergoing which is called post-modernism. Here is my email conversation with him. The indented sections are Earl's response back to me.

The Most High Earl-

First off, I just want to continue to say thanks for the road you are blazing for young pastors like myself. I finally feel like there is an older emerging pentecostal guy who I can communicate with. I just finished reading your rapport magazine article. In it you wrote that a “longing for revival is a core component of Pentecostalism”. My question is this. Is the quest for “revival” something that will continue to define Pentecostals? I know that in the past Pentecostals have constantly pursued a revived sense of religion. I believe that we may need to stop craving “revival” and start looking for what God is doing “new”. I believe in most people’s context, when they hear the term “revival” they have a predetermined idea of what that looks like. Crying, weeping gnashing of teeth and the such.

Yes. I hear you. "Revival" for a lot of Pentecostals is a template or a
harkening back to a mythical past, rather than a fresh intervention by God in
our lives. Perhaps the darkest side of us is our ability confuse our
personal preferences with a move of God. My feeling is that we need a kind of
revival for which we probably don't have a name yet. On the bright side, I
really like Darrell Guder's book on the continuing conversion of the church, and
his argument that ongoing renewal is really what leaders should always be
looking for. Without it, we are sucked into the culture, be it suburbs or Roman
empire.



I have always loved revival and have continually studied the idea. But is “revival” a term and context that works in a post-modern era? In other words if we revive a Christianity from Azusa Street or Evan Roberts or Charles Finney; how effective will it be in a society that is post-christian? George Washington was a great leader in his time but would he be a great leader today if we revived him? Henry Ford’s innovations revolutionized the industry but if we revived him would he make any impact? I understand that these are mere secular comparisons to a spiritual entity like the church. However, I think sometimes in our quest to revive we miss out on God doing something new. Furthermore, I believe we take the mystery out of the experience when we have a predetermined understanding of what revival will look like when it arrives. When Jewel says that she is “on a quest for knowledge of things larger than herself” I don’t think that she necessarily wants to “arrive” at the holy grail of truth rather she wants to stay in a mode of mystery constantly discovering new things. I think it may be dangerous to end that journey by saying we believe in “reviving” something from years ago.

You're reminding me of Edith Blumhoffer's great question, "restore what?" For
me, the issue is whether our desire is to see Jesus manifest his presence among
us as he did in the early church, regardless of how it looks, or whether we want
to emulate the last time that happened among us. Are we here to live Acts or
Azusa Street?



Of course all of this comes from my context and experience. Also, I am probably doing a typical pomo thing and latching onto key words and missing the general point which is being made. Again, I appreciate your work and am curious to your response. I look forward to one day meeting in person. I know you will be at northwest college in the fall. I will do everything in my power to be there.

You know, I wonder if "revival" rhetoric might have a positive side, too, (I
certainly see its negatives) perhaps the word could mean so many things to so
many different people that it could actually create open-mindedness.
Hmmmmmmm...maybe. (I'm thinking here of certain Korean-American churches where
the people know the pastor is under the anointing because he is whispering.
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, well, you know....)