This past Saturday I visited my hometown of Wakarusa, Indiana. It is a small, single stoplight community in the midst of cornfields ready for harvest and horse-drawn buggies racketing down the streets. The tallest and most admired structure was the pumpkin tree erected in the center square. The distance from one end of town to the other is about one mile.

In the afternoon I traveled to downtown Chicago, where the smallest structure there made the pumpkin tree look like merely a seed. Ironically, there were horse-drawn carriages in Chicago as well. But they are not appealing to someone growing up in Amish territory. It just does not make sense to spend good money for a horse-and-buggy ride!

But the scene of ripened harvest fields in Indiana, and streets swarming with people on Michigan Avenue, was a vivid reminder of the magnificent opportunity (and responsibility) I have to be in God’s fields . . . preparing the soil, planting seeds, providing nutrients, watering the crops, reaping the spiritual harvest. By God’s grace, Life Action has had the privilege of being in small communities like Wakarusa as well as metro areas like Chicago, and everywhere in between.

Since September, we have been blessed to:

• Conduct road team ministries in twelve communities with Summits and THIRST Conferences. Three or four of those were unusually impacting. Franklin Graham’s home church in Boone, NC, was deeply touched by THIRST and is interested in a summit. We have ministered to more than 7,000 individuals in these extended formats.
• Lead a regional women’s conference in Dallas, TX, with 2,000 women.
• Host the National Prayer Meeting for Revival broadcast on Saturday mornings with national leaders, reaching thousands each week.
• Air on daily radio the Seeking Him series, which continues to flourish.
• Hear of hundreds of groups going through the Seeking Him study this fall. I had the joy of helping one church launch it, with 700 adults going through the material.
• Host two Family Camps at our campus in Buchanan, MI.
• Conduct two Pastors’ Retreats at The Lodge.
• Conduct weekend ministry in at least 10 locations in preparation for upcoming Summits.
• Lead a workshop at the “Straight Up” pastors’ conference in the Chicago area.
• Participate in NYC’s 150^th Anniversary of the 3^rd Great Awakening near ground zero.
• Host a National Revival Network meeting with several likeminded leaders.
• Hold a planning retreat for next summer’s Institute of Campus Revival and Awakening at Yale.
• Be interviewed on the Haven Today radio broadcast with Charles Morris.
• Be involved in numerous other meetings and events.

All of the above is just more activity, apart from God’s Spirit @ Work changing hearts.

This morning I read a few dozen testimonies from a recent THIRST Conference. One of them simply said the following:

Before you came, my dryness about my faith was overwhelming. I felt Christ had turned His face so far away that I would never see Him again in my heart. During the week, I understood that my anger over hurt was separating me from Christ. I cried out to God, and He heard me. He cleansed my heart of hurt, and now I am free, and the thirst is alive and well. Thank you for your obedience to His call.

            I firmly believe that this one brief story represents millions of believers--yes, millions--here in North America who are dry and not even thirsty. Their hope is gone. The wounds are so deep that they believe they will never again taste and see that the Lord is good.

            But then someone comes along and plants a seed of hope. They witness a whole team of people who are thirsty for God to do something extraordinary. Then the thirst returns. And crying out begins. And God intervenes. According to Isaiah, “He pours water on him who is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.”

            It is our passion, here at Life Action, that some day the magnificent mile in Wakarusa and Chicago, as well as similar places around the world, will be noted for having experienced floods of spiritual riches. That the true and abundant life of Christ will be manifest in all places . . . for His glory!

            Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!