New Year's Transformational Thoughts

I suppose I will jump on the bandwagon of New Years blogging. But perhaps my New Years thoughts might be a little different from most.... so hang on !

There are two streams of thought here, and in some ways they reflect the two "fires" that are communicated in the Sentinel DVD, "Approaching Fire." The first is the fact that, despite all the secular and church hype, we are not getting any better. Sure there is a lot of "churchy" activity around. We again have a plethora of prophetic pronouncements about the New Year and the new decade, but it all seems to be wrapped in the same old wrappings of "ministry," and for all that has been spoken in the past decade, I personally do not see that we as the Church, here in the West have advanced. We continue to promote our ministries and we continue to be as ineffective as before. We have some who call a small step, "transformation" when it is little more than what we can achieve from our own human efforts. There is little or no societal transformation on the scale that we see in other places in the world. And so far, the trend seems to be that we will continue in the old patterns. I see us in the period of Hosea 5:13 - 15 - Where Israel saw and recognized her "sores" yet turned to human means to try to get healing. We are continuing to do this under the guise of "ministry initiatives." So the Lord basically says, "OK, that's not going to heal you, but while you are finding that out, I'll be over here waiting for you to cry out to me in desperation." I do not think we have yet come to that place of genuine desperation where we are eager to give up our own ideas, solutions, fall backs, and initiatives, and fall on our faces and cry out to Him. So, until we come to that place, I believe the Lord will continue to allow us to drink from our own cisterns that hold no water (Jeremiah 2).

On the other hand, we find places and people who have come to that place of desperation and the end of their own efforts, and are experiencing TRUE transforming revival. The past decade saw a rise in such occurrences from 8 in 1998 to over 800 in 2009. Transforming revival is exploding in other parts of the world, and I believe it will continue. There are those who are embracing the invitation of Hosea 6:1-3, returning to the Lord, leaving behind all the former "techniques" and simply crying out for Him, for His presence (vs. 2). Those who come to that place are finding out the reality of God's promise that as surely as the sun rises, He will come to us, vs. 3. As the sun rises on January 1, 2010, it is a testimony to the faithfulness of this promise from our Faithful God.

Am I hopeful? Absolutely!! Not because I believe we will get there by all our initiatives and efforts, but because even as God will allow us to go deeper into despair, injury and pain, it is because He desires for us to come to that ultimate place of total abandoned desperation for His presence alone. Let's stop pretending we are doing so well. Let's stop pretending that if we just do this program or initiative we will persuade Him... He will respond to our sincerely broken, contrite, and desperate hearts (Isa. 66:2). This will be a challenge to every church, every ministry who feels pressure to "survive" by continuing to come up with appeals, programs, initiatives and "religious efforts." but if we GIVE UP, we will find Him waiting with open arms.

May 2010 be the year we come to that realization.

Learning About Transformational Principles

Let's discuss briefly what can be gleaned from this story of the transformation of Algodao de Jandaira, Brazil.
What can we learn to apply to our lives, and our communities?

1) Never lose sight of the fact that God loves every community. 

Here was a small desert community in the North of Brazil that was not even on any maps at the time. Seemingly forgotten and unknown. But not to our loving and All-knowing God! His love was so great for this "forgotten" town, that He began years earlier to arrange circumstances in lives so that all the pieces would converge at just the right time for His purposes to be accomplished. There are a number of fascinating "back-stories" that I will include in the book I am writing about this amazing tale of transformation. This is an amazing example of the great love that God has for our communities, for YOUR community. No matter what the situation might look like at the moment, God has a destiny for your community in His great heart. He's just waiting...

2) God is looking for obedient hearts

The people of First Baptist Church in Valentina did not even believe in dreams and visions! Yet their hearts were sincere, and as the Lord gently prodded them, they were willing to step "out of the box" in order to obey Him. And when the were confronted with the reality that God was speaking to them, they did whatever was necessary to be obedient to His call. I could not begin to write here the many sacrifices and testings that took place as the leaders and members of First Baptist Church began to make the 3 1/2 hour trip up to Algodao once, many time twice a month. Flat tire, no gasoline, no cash... it didn't matter, as they paid the price, they also found that God was their provider, and their strength. How willing are we to pay any price in order to have God's transforming presence dwell in our communities? Are we willing to give up our preconceived ideas of how He will work, and simply obey?

3) Desperate Prayer attracts the attention of God

We sometimes think that we can get God's attention by massing hundreds or thousands together to worship and pray with lots of fanfare and hoopla. But look at this story and adjust your thinking. One couple who had moved there from Rio were praying for God to bring a Baptist church to Algodao. And a lone, blind man, sitting in his simple house cried out to God, "Please send someone to help us!" God was attracted not to numbers or flash and stage-managed programs, He was attracted to three simple, desperate people who knew if He did not come through, there was nothing left. No rain for 23 years, a dying population, dying livestock, no crops and a dried up reservoir were daily reminders to them that the needed to pray with desperation to the Only One who could help them. How desperate are we, really? Are we truly, truly at the place were we believe that God coming is our only hope? Or are we still infatuated with our programs, our schemes, our ideas and our plans to "get Him to come?" Until we get past all of that, He waits...He waits to see our desperation, and to hear our desperate prayers.

In the DVD titled, The Quickening, produced by The Sentinel Group you can learn of the seven core principles and seven obstacles to transformation. These are principles gathered as The Sentinel Group has observed hundreds of transformed communities over the years. You can purchase this DVD by going to the Sentinel Groups website, www.sentinelgroup.org. There will soon (hopefully by December 21st) be a new webstore at www.Revivalworks.com. If you purchase the DVD, you can also purchase the companion prayer guide. When you get these, contact me, and I can send you a group study guide to go along with the DVD.

Let's earnestly give ourselves to pursuing transformation in our communities. It is not a pipe dream. It is happening in over 800 communities around the world this very moment. How about YOUR community?

Addendum: On December 19, 2009, First Baptist Church in Algodao de Jandaira will inaugurate their new church building. We had the privilege of praying in that "shell" in June of 2008, and now they nearly fill the building with worship of our Great God. He is still at work.

Transformation of Algodao de Jandaira, (part 3)

In January of 2004, when the team came from Joao Pessoa, something was different. As they stopped at the "Tree of Life" to pray, they noticed the ground was not so dusty. As they drove further, one of the farmers told them they could not continue, and as they drove further, they began to hear a noise... a roaring noise.

As they turned the corner, the saw that where there had once been a dry river bed, it was now full of fast moving water. They could not drive across. So they gathered their packages, put them on their shoulders, walked across the river and began to hike the several kilometers left into the town. When they got to town, the road was washed out, and the once dry reservoir was overflowing! The people of the town had to help them walk across the overflowing spillway.
As they talked with the people of Algodao, the learned that shortly after they left in December, the "Showers of Blessing" began. At first off in the distance. The humidity rose, and for the first time ever, they began to notice mold growing on their walls. Then the rains came, in two great bursts. Off in the distance, water was even coming from the rock, and forming a stream to fill the reservoir!

The people knew it was the prayers of the Christians that had brought the rains.

Today, Algodao de Jandaira is in the midst of an amazing transformation. The population of the city has doubled as agriculture has flourished. Four different kinds of crops are grown. The once dry reservoir produces small fish and shrimp.

People can grow crops in their back yards. Something they could not do before.
The mayor presented the keys to the city to the Lord Jesus Christ, and now after many years of hard work, there is a brand new church building, a daughter church of First Baptist Church in Valentine. First Baptist Church in Algodao will be opening the weekend of December 18-19th.

Algodao de Jandaira is a testimony to what God can do in answer to the prayers of just a few, and through those who are willing to listen to His voice, and obey no matter what He says, or what the cost.

This is just the beginning for this community in transformation.