Will There be Another Great Awaking

There are some in the Church who believe there is yet another great revival to come before Jesus returns. I have not seen anything in scripture which would say there will be but that doesn't mean Jesus can't bring one. But as we look around this country and the world, the question in the minds of many must be, "Will there be another great awakening in our future?" There is a great need for one and I don't think we can deny that.

Let's look at the last time this country experienced a spiritual awakening or revival. The Jesus Movement is to have begun in 1967 in San Francisco. Now, imagine that for a moment; when anyone from that generation (including myself) mentions San Francisco and 1967, the first thing which comes to mind is "The summer of love." It was a summer of drugs, sexual freedom and rock and roll. No one would ever associate the birth of a revival with that summer in San Francisco.

It is thought that this movement was originated in the area of Haight Ashbury district in Frisco and was a ministry to the young people looking for something or anything and an escape from the establishment. What a lot of them found was Jesus and their lives were changed. This was a time in our country when things were crazy. There was the Civil Rights movement, protests against the Vietnam war and a counter culture striking out at anyone who represented the establishment.

The nation was ripe for a Jesus movement; it was ripe for a spiritual awakening. Everything was in chaos and there was an attitude of rebellion among the youth and young adults. This was my generation and I remember this stuff like it was yesterday. This movement started on the streets of San Francisco and if you would have asked anyone beyond the age of 30 what was represented in San Francisco that summer, the answer would have been rebellion and ignorance.

But God can take anything and turn it around for His purposes and that's exactly what He did that summer in the city by the bay. Young people were being saved by countless numbers and spreading the gospel message in the streets. Jesus took these hippies and young people and transformed them into street missionaries. It moved down the coast to Southern California and then across the country.

Chuck Smith was the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa and his heart was burdened for these young hippies and street people. Jesus sent him young adults who were a part of that movement and they were able to minister to them. Again, young people were being saved and filling the seats at Calvary Chapel and taking that message back to the streets. This was a movement which spread across the country; the gospel message was taken out by these hippies and street people to many parts of this country.

It was, without a doubt, a move of God for a time when it was probably the farthest thought of any mainline pastor or church.  As a matter of fact, it was referred to by many as a cult as it spread. But all these years later, there is so much evidence to prove this was not a cult but a move by God. If you are really interested in more concerning this movement, and there is so much more, the following web site has a lot of information.

http://www.shilohworshipmusic.com/ShilohWorshipMusic/The_Jesus_Movement_of_the_70s.html

In February 1970, at a small Christian College in Wilmore KY, a Tuesday morning Chapel service which was scheduled to last 50 minutes ended up lasting for 185 hours and the beginning of a revival. Asbury Bible College is where this happened and is often referred to as The Asbury Revival. The service was scheduled to simply have students give their testimony and as one after another came to the platform to speak, the Holy Spirit descended on that Chapel and it continued nonstop around the clock.

This event, happening in 1970, ran parallel with the Jesus People Movement and both resulted in the spreading of the gospel across the country. There was an account of a few students who, unannounced, went into a church on a Sunday morning right before services were to begin and asked if they could have five minutes to speak. Now, I can't imagine any pastor allowing three or four strangers, walking into the church just prior to the start of services and giving them permission to speak. But when the Holy Spirit is moving, it will happen and it did.

The pastor gave them permission to speak and as one of them began to tell about what happened at Asbury, the Holy Spirit came, just like on Pentecost, and revival began just as it had in that Chapel on campus. This revival spread to Wilmore and Lexington to the north. Churches in the area were packed with people craving to hear from God. Students made weekend trips to many churches to speak and this revival continued to spread.
 
One of these teams visited a local church in Anderson Indiana. There is this account from the web site, Beautiful Feet,

 A remarkable revival broke out at the Anderson, Indiana, South Meridian Church of God following a visit from a team of students from Asbury. That revival was conducted every night for 50 consecutive days (Feb. 22-April 12, 1970). The church was not able to hold the 2,500 people that gathered each night, so the services were moved to a local high school

http://romans1015.com/1970-asbury-revival/

A video of the happenings of this event can be viewed on You Tube at the following site,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qOqitIKUNs

These two movements were movements which were ordained and guided by Jesus Christ through the working of the Holy Spirit. So, why the history lesson on these movements? The time during which this awakening or revival or whatever you would like to refer to it as, happened during a troubling time in this country. Our current culture and society is also a troubled time. It has different situations, problems and rebellion but just as God used that culture and society in the 1960s and '70s, He can do the same through the situations of our society and culture.

Even the mainstream media got involved. It reported what was happening around the country concerning the Jesus Movement. Newsweek reported on it in 1971. We all know what the media is like today when it comes to Jesus and Christianity but God can do anything. Even secular music picked up on the Jesus Movement and began to record songs in that theme. The Doobie Brothers sang, 'Jesus is just alright with me' and of course there were those who's lyric was a little questionable such as Brewer and Shipley singing, "One toke over the line sweet Jesus.'

With God, anything is possible; at Asbury, a group of students began to pray in December of 1969 and they prayed every day and added to the group. It started with six students and ended with thirty six students praying for revival. On January 31, 1970, they knew that the Holy Spirit was coming and a few days later He did. These students had prayed with confidence and boldness for this movement to begin and it did.

If it is the Lord's will to have another movement such as this before He returns, we should be praying. We should be in prayer consistently for God to move in this country and around the world. God surely knows this world needs Him. Only He can change hearts and lives just as He did in the 1960s and '70s.