As many of you know, Life Action has only one mission and one message: REVIVAL. But we have multiple ministries, targeting critical touch-points of our culture. Currently, there are six primary outreaches. A flagship outreach is our road teams. They are now off the road, having just returned from their 37th year of itinerant ministry. This past year we focused on 59 different communities, conducting over 4,000 different events (sessions), including prayer gatherings, meetings with youth, children’s clubs, luncheons for women, church-wide sessions, area-wide services, local church staff meetings, and a host of additional informal events ... all with the purpose of calling God’s people to revival, and their surrounding community to an awakening to the presence of Christ. This week, our other outreaches are holding additional events, including The Institute for Campus Revival and Awakening at Yale University, family camps at our Clear Lake property in Buchanan, and preparing for a group of pastors coming to The Lodge. Also, I will be speaking in Bay Harbor, MI, at a church that meets every summer at a Yacht Club ... of all places! The list goes on. Conventions, recording sessions for radio and Internet podcast, an in-house Revival Week in just a few weeks, and a national women’s conference this fall. All total, Life Action will probably conduct over 5,000 different events of one kind or another each year. If I tried to actually calculate all the events ... it would be an event in itself!!

Misconception #3 – Revival Is an Event

A common misconception is that revival can be relegated to just an event. This is especially true in parts of our country where “revivals” are scheduled regularly. Years ago, a sign was placed in front of a church that simply stated, “Revival here every night this week, except Tuesday.” They were advertising meetings that may or may not have had anything to do with authentic revival, but people had become so accustomed to an annual event, they just called it revival. Of course, we chuckle when we think that Tuesday would be an exception, that we might somehow limit the timing of God’s work to select days, based on whether or not a meeting is scheduled. If revival depended on an event, then surely the thousands of events we have conducted here at Life Action over the years would have produced revival. But our nation is continuing its downward spiral. Revival is not an event!!

Then, why all the activity?

Yesterday, I noticed dozens of sailboats gliding effortlessly across the cool waters of northern Lake Michigan. The breeze was perfect for these sailors, who were undoubtedly filled with delight as the hard labor of setting their sails was rewarded with favorable winds. I am sure there are many days when sailors prepare their sails but there is no wind to propel them forward.
This week, the famed annual yacht race from Chicago to Mackinaw Island will celebrate its 100th running. One of the requirements is that every participant be knowledgeable in over 70 areas related to yachting. Millions of dollars and thousands of hours of training will be invested. With or without wind, this will be a huge event, with all types of parties, fireworks, and regalia. But when all the work is done and they leave the harbor, the fleet of yachts are wholly dependent on God to send the wind. Without the sails being set, there is no chance of victory, only another event. But without the wind, it wouldn’t  matter. Oh, how we need the wind! In the spiritual realm, the activity of gathering God’s people together to pray and to seek His face in humility, repentance, and obedience equates to setting our sails, NOT TO REVIVAL. Oh, how we need the prevailing wind of God to blow for it to be true revival!

Life Action recently printed a special edition of Spirit of Revival magazine entitled “Setting the Sails.” I encourage you to order a copy for your pastor, or allow us to send him one on your behalf, so he can help pave the way to true revival in your church and community. You can go to www.SpiritOfRevival.com to order your copy.

Thank you for your friendship and support during these summer months!