{"id":466,"date":"2011-01-21T17:34:06","date_gmt":"2011-01-21T17:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/?p=466"},"modified":"2012-09-19T01:12:56","modified_gmt":"2012-09-19T01:12:56","slug":"matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/","title":{"rendered":"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Josiah sits with a group of us on campus and hears how Jesus calls us to follow Him and be baptized. He confesses Jesus as Lord, we fill up the bathtub, and his friends baptize him.\u00a0 One day, we all take communion together with some fifty-cent, day-old Jimmy John\u2019s bread and some soda pop (we couldn\u2019t find any juice). Josiah hears, \u201cNow that we have taught you to remember Jesus this way, you now have permission to do this ceremony with others who need Jesus.\u201d <\/em>Later that week, Josiah goes into the cafeteria, gets some bread and juice and sits with some friends and teaches them to take communion. Yeah, it\u2019s not your conventional church tradition. But it is an unconventional gospel going forth with power to change lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe walks in to the group of students one day. He had read the Bible a few times as a kid, but really doesn\u2019t have a church background. Students share stories of encounters they\u2019d had with the Holy Spirit. Joe asks, \u201cCan I feel God\u2019s presence, too?\u201d Bear comes over and begins to pray for him, asking God\u2019s Spirit to touch Joe. He suddenly feels a heavy \u201cweight\u201d fall on him, and senses the love and power of God filling him.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is going on? I\u2019ve never felt anything like this!\u201d he starts laughing, filled with joy at this refreshing from the Holy Spirit. Joe soon joins the group and starts following Jesus with us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One day a student tells stories of how his roommate is manifesting demons, praying in demonic languages and cursing him for being a follower of Jesus. He is tormented and cries out in his sleep. These are the kinds of issues you face when you\u2019re bringing the gospel into areas where there is a lot of darkness. \u201cFor this purpose was the Son of God manifested \u2013 to destroy the works of the devil.\u201d When Jesus said, “As the Father sent Me, so I’m sending you,” (John 15) I believe He wants us to destroy the works of the devil in people’s lives as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many times, you\u2019ll only see the power of the gospel shown fully when you take it to where it is most needed. It\u2019s most needed where people don\u2019t have it. When you bring the gospel to darkness, it\u2019s powerful \u2013 but people are also gonna have a lot of mess in their lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of my student leaders called me a few weeks ago to confess a sin. He\u2019d stumbled in immorality. I was bummed. I didn\u2019t make light of it. It was serious. But I also didn\u2019t freak out. After all, I\u2019m not discipling people who already have a Christian culture. I\u2019m discipling people who have been broken, abused, beat up, ashamed, drugged, demonized and jailed.\u00a0 My young disciple repented, confessed it, and received prayer for healing and strengthening. Two years ago, he was in bi-sexual relationships and had just come out of jail. This year, he\u2019s led at least ten people to Jesus, seen a number of miracles, and become an emerging evangelistic leader in the church. He\u2019s unstable, but he\u2019s getting more stable all the time. He’s come a long way. He now spends time with Jesus every day and is growing in character.\u00a0I meet with him at least weekly for accountability and discipleship. \u00a0I don\u2019t let his gifts \u201cqualify\u201d him, but I don\u2019t let his immaturity hold him back from using his gifts, either. I disciple him, think about him as a spiritual son, and give him discipline (verbal correction and rebuke), love, encouragement, and grace when he fails. It\u2019s tiring. Parenting is. That\u2019s really what discipleship is like sometimes \u2013 spiritual parenting.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul said to the Corinthians, \u201cYou have many instructors, but you don\u2019t have many fathers.\u201d Apostolic ministry has the spirit of fathering.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do you think Corinth looked like when the gospel was spreading there? Why do you think all these young churches needed apostolic guidance, visits, and letters sent to them (think I and II Corinthians as the letters written to this young church)? \u00a0Because anytime the gospel starts transforming a pagan culture, there\u2019s going to be a lot of very messy stuff. The gospel transforms darkness, drives out demons, and teaches people how to live in a new Kingdom. When there are spiritual fathers in place and the gospel goes forth, young leaders can emerge in places like Corinth that transform places that seem impossibly difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The more I think about what\u2019s gone on in the student church movement the last three years, I\u2019m more convinced then ever that my personal passion is not revival, at least as I\u2019ve often thought of it. I love revival. I know, love and respect many friends who\u2019s life passion is to seek God for revival. Maybe it\u2019s just semantics and stereotypes\u2013 but when I think of revival, I think of stages, shows, large crowds, and emerging Christian \u201csuperheroes\u201d who make the next cover of popular Christian magazines and \u201ctop-100\u201d lists of most influential leaders. I\u2019m ok with that, I just have no desire to be in that world anymore. What really makes me \u201ctick\u201d is seeing demonized, oppressed, pagan people meet Jesus, start following him and develop into churches that are calling others to follow Jesus. My thrill in ministry is coming home from seeing a new disciple baptized, a new church starting, seeing someone set free from demons, seeing a student realize God is a Father who loves them. My passion is for spiritual awakening \u2013 seeing the spiritually dead come to life, live for Jesus, make other disciples, and learn to live in God\u2019s kingdom. As one old pastor told me recently, \u201cI\u2019m for the power of God \u2013 absent the showmanship of man.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps we need to redefine what we mean when we say, “Revival.” History is full of examples of where “revival” hit, but the gospel never translated down from the stage, the personalities, and the large crowds to transform families, the workplace, and the culture. Without discipleship and giving ordinary people a way to experience Jesus and his kingdom in their everyday life, we’re merely sparking matches — and not equipping people to spread spiritual fires that can burn through a culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m looking for an army of young people to equip to go to the places of darkness on campuses, in the cities, and in the nations of the world. I\u2019m looking for an army of young people who aren\u2019t afraid to courageously confront the darkness and the demons and their own insecurities to say, \u201cI\u2019m here to call people to follow Jesus and see the kingdom of God come to the earth.\u201d They\u2019re not looking for fame. They\u2019re not looking to be exalted. They\u2019re not looking for a show or a crowd \u2013 they\u2019re burning to see the power of God go to places of darkness and transform it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The last few years, I\u2019ve seen hundreds of student churches start on college campuses. Hundreds of students have met Jesus, been baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit, and healed. Some students have begun to travel to start simple churches with friends on other campuses and in new nations. I don\u2019t know a single one of these student churches that has started through advertising, \u201cofficially registering a group\u201d, posting signs on street corners, getting a church logo, or any of the other ways many of us think of for \u201cstarting a church.\u201d It\u2019s become a student-led movement. There are older leaders in place, apostolic elders and leaders like myself and my good friends Brad and Pam, the Changs, Ormes and others who are loving, equipping discipling, and providing spiritual parenting \u2013 but it\u2019s primarily the next generation who\u2019s running with this vision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are a few thoughts I\u2019m processing this morning:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Making disciples is how to grow churches.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Making disciples who make other disciples is how to grow a movement.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Spiritual parenting is how to guide and grow a movement of churches to reach the nations.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If we need a revival in our culture, our greatest need is not just for a revival shown by conferences, stages, and just renewing older churches. My quest is for a “revival” to the same kinds of creative missions, prayer, disciple-making, spiritual parenting, and church planting that were modeled for us in the book of Acts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    My next post, I\u2019ll discuss some basic ways we\u2019re learning in our movement to form new disciples into teams that follow Jesus together (churches) to see this kind of “revival” spread to the areas people do life together.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Josiah sits with a group of us on campus and hears how Jesus calls us to follow Him and be baptized. He confesses Jesus as Lord, we fill up the bathtub, and his friends baptize him.\u00a0 One day, we all take communion together with some fifty-cent, day-old Jimmy John\u2019s bread and some soda pop (we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[29,192,194,55,60,195,64,72,73,196,79],"yoast_head":"\nMatches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want? - Erik Fish<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want? - Erik Fish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Josiah sits with a group of us on campus and hears how Jesus calls us to follow Him and be baptized. He confesses Jesus as Lord, we fill up the bathtub, and his friends baptize him.\u00a0 One day, we all take communion together with some fifty-cent, day-old Jimmy John\u2019s bread and some soda pop (we […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Erik Fish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-21T17:34:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-09-19T01:12:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erik Fish\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erik Fish\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/\",\"name\":\"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want? - Erik Fish\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-01-21T17:34:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-19T01:12:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/76981468bcd7cb5052c59731fb06fbe0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg\",\"width\":120,\"height\":120},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/\",\"name\":\"Erik Fish\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/76981468bcd7cb5052c59731fb06fbe0\",\"name\":\"Erik Fish\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40798ce137ecb5806306fcf9e5d6cfe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40798ce137ecb5806306fcf9e5d6cfe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Erik Fish\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want? - Erik Fish","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want? - Erik Fish","og_description":"Josiah sits with a group of us on campus and hears how Jesus calls us to follow Him and be baptized. He confesses Jesus as Lord, we fill up the bathtub, and his friends baptize him.\u00a0 One day, we all take communion together with some fifty-cent, day-old Jimmy John\u2019s bread and some soda pop (we […]","og_url":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/","og_site_name":"Erik Fish","article_published_time":"2011-01-21T17:34:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-09-19T01:12:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":120,"height":120,"url":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Erik Fish","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erik Fish","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/","url":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/","name":"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want? - Erik Fish","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg","datePublished":"2011-01-21T17:34:06+00:00","dateModified":"2012-09-19T01:12:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/76981468bcd7cb5052c59731fb06fbe0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/120px-Ignition_of_a_match.jpg","width":120,"height":120},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/2011\/01\/21\/matches-and-movements-what-kind-of-revival-do-we-want\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matches and Movements: What Kind of Revival Do We Want?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/","name":"Erik Fish","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/76981468bcd7cb5052c59731fb06fbe0","name":"Erik Fish","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40798ce137ecb5806306fcf9e5d6cfe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/40798ce137ecb5806306fcf9e5d6cfe3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Erik Fish"},"url":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikfish.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}