Several surveys have been released over the last year.  It has been awhile since I've posted here and these surveys would have been good opportunities to do so.  However, the trends these surveys document have not gone away and now still remains a good time.

Here is the simple reality:  In under 20 years, the Christian church in America has declined by about 10%.  In raw numbers, Christianity more or less held steady.  This is deceptive.  First of all, America itself increased by tens of millions in the last century.  Christians made up a smaller share of these new Americans and the ones who are tend to be immigrants.  This is true of the Catholic Church in particular.  In the meantime, the percentage- and raw numbers- of 'religious nones' have increased.

When we translate these percentages into actual numbers, we come to the uncomfortable conclusion that millions of Christians in America have left the faith.  Not only have those who report having no religion whatsoever increased, but this group is composed largely of those who were Christian at one time. Read more

While in the midst of a prayer meeting for revival one night, the Lord showed me something so disturbing that I hesitated to share it with the others there. We had gathered together in a home with a sincere desire to pray for revival in our area, but I noticed that the prayers only seemed to be directed to each other, their pastors, their churches, and Christianity in general.  No one had even mentioned the lost and unsaved - they were only praying for themselves.

While I sat there, the Lord showed me this vision.  While I am sure that everyone would have said that they agreed with the vision, I fear that few would have been cut deeply enough in their hearts to make a real difference... 

I saw a large wharf set out over the ocean.  It was long and wide and stretched out a good distance over the ocean.  It filled with a crowd of people up and down its length.  It was a bright and sunny day, and I remember feeling how pleasant the weather was.  What a wonderful day for a stroll along the pier in your Sunday's finest, meeting and greeting all your friends! Read more

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jer 29:11)

I am always amazed at how we can pluck a snippet of Scripture out of a passage and completely ignore the surrounding context so we can reinforce the consolations that we long for. How many times have we heard this scripture in reference to the blessings that God has in store for us? We strain our ears to hear anything that will lean toward the wonderful things that we yearn to hear, and applaud the teachers that we have heaped up to soothe our itching ears. Oh, how wonderful are our messages of peace that our prophets have consoled us with!

And yet, the substance of the Word of the Lord that carries these snippets of Scripture often brings a much different message than what we want to hear.

Jeremiah was called to prophesy unto Israel in the 13th year of Josiah's reign. It was a message of woe and repentance, of judgment to come and Holy Ghost conviction for rebelling against the Lord. Five years later, Josiah discovered the scrolls and instituted a great revival in the land, but Jeremiah still continued his message of judgment and repentance.

I can imagine the resistance from the Jews of the time. Couldn't this old judgmental prophet see how wonderful their churches were? Why did he not understand that they were in a time of revival? Surely his dark message of repentance no longer applied to them, but this caustic old prophet just wouldn't let go of his old ways. He must not be of God, because, Praise the Lord, we're all saved and praising the Lord now. There's no need to repent.

Read more

“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”  Jeremiah 2:13

Lately, I’ve been attending a Bible reading group at a church that I would have
never thought I would visit.  Their requests for discipleship from their pastor
has gained no traction, so out of hunger and desperation, they have formed their
own reading group, and have asked me to attend because they had read my booklet
on Four Steps to Revival and felt that I had something to offer.

I was surprised to find a genuine hunger for God in these people that I would
have thought had been dried up long ago.  There is no demonstrated move of the
Holy Spirit in this church, but rather an adherence to archaic liturgies and
formal worship repeated each week out of a book of prayers that was written
centuries ago.  And yet their hunger still pushes up through the arid ground of
a church that has remained fallow for longer than anyone can remember. Read more

"Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy."   (Prov. 20:28)

If there is any one message that can be deemed the most important of all, it is the message of mercy.  The Apostle Paul wrote that charity is even more important than faith and hope, the two pillars that our salvation rest upon. 

It is not enough to be righteous before God.  The Pharisees were so righteous that they were squeaky clean, and yet they wound up in Hell.  It is to the merciful that God will show Himself merciful, not the righteous.  Mercy is the core of God's personality.  Without it, He would have empty mansions in Heaven with no one to fill them. Read more

"Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory:
Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? Are they restrained? ... O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance." Isaiah 63:15,17

Every time I return from Africa, I am deeply troubled by the vast difference between the wide open hunger of churches in Africa that I visit and the deadened spiritual landscape of America. In Africa, they can't seem to get enough of the Gospel. No matter how hard you preach it, they want more. They are sick of the anemic, easy-going Gospel they see on TV because they realize that it is only designed to soothe the flesh, not crucify it. They want a Gospel of power and they are ready to pay the price to get it.
The results in Africa have been astounding. After being home for only a couple of weeks, I am already getting reports of how the churches I visited are more on fire than they were before. Before I left, I printed 500 booklets of the message that I was preaching to them, and they are asking for hundreds more so they can give them to even more churches around them so that the fire can spread. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to know that all the effort and money was not in vain - it's really working!
Read more

We’re heading home tonight. I’m sitting here at my hotel in Nairobi, looking out the window and wondering if I will ever be back again.

I go through this almost every time. It’s a bittersweet feeling leaving this place. I am worn out and spent after dozens of services in a score of little churches throughout Kenya, but exhilarated from watching the power of God work in the hearts of these people. I can’t wait to get home, but I can’t wait to get back.

The challenges that face my returning to Africa are more than financial. The hardest challenges have to do with slogging through spiritual battles, the blanket of spiritual resistance that Satan throws at me, and the weariness of this old flesh that has to be continually shoved aside. But oh, the excitement to see the power of God at work through this little ministry, and to hear and see the transformation that takes place in these little churches where I have been! This is more than just having some good church services – these are bursts of spiritual breakthroughs and transformations for these churches. Several places would cry out at the end of the service that they would never be the same again. When is the last time you heard that?

These people in Africa are torn wide open to the real Gospel, not the one of blessings, prosperity, and sweet love—they’ve had enough of that – but the Gospel of righteousness, power, and true revival. Services here are electrifying, not only during the singing that raises the rooftops with praises and shouting, but the poignant soul-searching at the Altar Call. This is a land whose fallow ground has been broken up and is ready for the seed to be planted deep in its soil.
Read more

It's been three years since it has rained in Namanga, and it is so dry that the air is full of dust.  We are in the south of Kenya with the Masaai, a tribe of strange dress and stranger customs.  They are known for the way they mutilate their ear lobes and for their fearlessness in fighting lions.  They are also very clannish, and rarely get saved.

But here we are ministering in a Masaai church, to which they have walked for hours to come to.  Some of the Masaai that are here walked almost 30 miles from Tanzania just to hear the Gospel delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit. These are serious people with a serious desire for Truth. Read more

Revival is coming to Kenya.  It isn't just something that's in the air; it's in their hearts.

I listened to a lady from the U.S. as she told me how great the praise and worship services were in Kenya.  It's not the praise and worship that gets me excited -- it's the altar calls. Read more

It's Day One of my 7^th trip to Kenya. 

Just as each person you meet has a different personality, so does each trip I make here.  Unlike other trips to Africa, I have not had a lot of excitement or drive this time.  I actually wondered if I was going flat like a Coke that has been left out too long - still tastes like Coke, but have I lost my fizz?  Would I be an effective witness to the churches that I would visit?  Would the Lord be with me as in times past when the power of the Holy Ghost would crash down from Heaven?  Was anything going to happen that was truly supernatural, or would this just be a nice little trip to go talk about Jesus? Read more

"I will therefore that men pray every where..."  1 Timothy 2:8

It has been said that preaching moves men, but prayer moves God.  If that is the case, then it seems to me that we should do a lot more praying than preaching and a lot more time on our knees listening to God than sitting on our butts reading books.  Why is it that prayer seems to be the most neglected of all Christian duties?

The secret art of prayer intercession has become rare because it taxes the depths of your soul to contend before the Throne of God for hours in an all-out struggle to wage war. Few Christians care that much to pray that much. It is much easier to fellowship with other Christians than to lock oneself in that solitary closet for hours in travail with God.  That secret place of the Most High is not for the light and easy Christian who is content with Sunday services and professes a relatively clean life, but shrinks from crossing over to a crucified, broken walk of sacrifice.  They nibble at the Word of God and sip at the fountain of prayer, so they never receive the strength to break through to a deeper level in God.  They "have a little talk with Jesus" but never grapple with contending prayer.  Is it a small wonder that we have more faith in our carnal efforts than in a supernatural answer to prayer? Read more

** This is the introduction to the booklet, "Four Steps to Revival", which is due to be released by July 1st. 

Introduction

I am writing out this message of the Four Steps to Revival because I believe that it is the best hope for a solution to the deep spiritual problems that face our world.  I believe that we are living in the last days, as do many other Christians who have been watching Biblical prophesies unfold in the news.  While many believe that we have little cause to worry because they expect to be raptured out of the troubles that are coming upon the face of the Earth, I believe that the Church will not only face them but will go through them all the way to the end when Jesus Christ splits the skies to end Armageddon.  Read more

I recently had a debate with a friend, regarding sharing the gospel and cultural relevance. He asked me, "What's the worst that could happen if you unwaveringly shared the gospel with someone, not caring about being sensitive to their situation or culturally relevant?"

His reasoning was sound, and it challenged me. I had grown up in an irreligious home where we were skeptical of "Jesus freaks" and people who took religion and the Bible too seriously. When I became a Christian, I was passionate about telling everyone I knew about heaven, hell, and salvation. After I didn't see anyone responding to my clarion call to repent, I wondered if something was wrong with me, or if it was the message I was presenting.

For awhile, I dismissed it with the fact that Jesus said just as the world hated him, it would hate us. Then, I read what Paul wrote to the Corinthians: Read more

For centuries missionaries have went outside of our nation spreading the gospel. I have even traveled on several mission trips and noticed similarities in America and overseas. All over the world people are poor, oppressed, families divided, and people need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ just like in America. Don't get me wrong, we are more fortunate economically than many other countries but we still need the gospel and the love of Christ spread right here in our nation.

  Read more

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." Isaiah 29:13,14 Read more

Well, ol' Bill finally woke up.

Ol' Bill comes to our little fellowship in the Pizza place in Maypearl.  His son-in-law, Harry, is the pastor there - I say pastor, but it's just a little fellowship where a handful us gather on Sunday morning to praise the Lord and share the Word.  I don't know if most folks would consider it church 'cause there's no steeple or fancy pews with a choir and a pulpit.  We just sit around the table and eat Breakfast Pizza while we allow the Lord to speak to us through each other.  They don't even label us as a church in the local newspaper - just a Bible study.  But that's okay.  We got more church going on there on Sunday morning than  a whole lot of them bigger cathedrals have all week.

Well, ol' Bill got himself a parasite overseas back in the '60s, and 17 years later they cut it out of him, all 20 lbs of it ... 'cept they missed some.   Well, all these years later, it was back and all plumped up again. Read more

There's something great and vast about Life that eludes me.  Often we try to pierce the veil of this reality with feelings and emotions that are thrust out of our soul like spears into the night in an attempt to touch that ethereal something that barely escapes the fingertips of our soul. 

We call it searching for Truth, but the concept is always so nebulous.  We try to use words to wrap something tangible around those feelings and paint them into something that we can grasp, but there are some things that can never be roped into anything rock solid.  There's more to Life than we can ever understand.

We think we know, but it is all beyond our comprehension, and much bigger than we can imagine.  We all have a concept of what God is, how big He is, and where He resides, but it is only translucent glimmers in our soul.  Somewhere, way up there, is God.  We feel that if we could just slice into the fabric of Reality with a knife, we would see Him sitting on His throne surrounded by all those angels, but we don't have anything sharp enough. Read more

 by Jesse Duckworth

From looking at this title, you probably think that I am anti-Christian but actually this blog is "all the way" for believers". I wrote this to encourage all believers to have a balance in life (Proverbs 11:1). What I mean is not always having ONE way of doing things in our Christian walk. Some people have taken faith to such a level that they walk and talk only ONE way and as a result are not being effective in the kingdom or in our society. When I say "stop being so religious" I am saying, have a relationship with God, pray for people, go to church, etc. But at the same time enjoy life and don't always act in a way to prove that you're more spiritual than others. If you still don't know what I am talking about, let me explain by describing the different kinds of religious people and the things they all do in the name of God and the church. Read more

What is the deal with Hell?  Is it really there or not?  And if it is there, is it really as bad as we have been led to believe?  And (here's the real question) if it is as bad as they say, why are we not more terrified?

I came to Christ as a non-believer - I didn't believe in God, didn't believe in Jesus, I didn't believe in Heaven, and I sure didn't believe in Hell.  And I didn't want to, either.  But when I got saved and felt the Spirit of God transform my soul, I accepted the whole deal.  I didn't need to see it; it was part of the whole package.

But the rational, analytical part of me has always looked curiously at the whole idea of Heaven and Hell.  It just doesn't make sense.  While I accept it wholeheartedly, it sure would be nice if I could get a glimpse (just to make sure).  Now, I've listened to some people who have seen either Heaven or Hell, and when listening to them tell the vision, I can see in their intensity and depth that they really did see these things.  But I'd just like to see if for myself. Read more

Something is wrong in the Church today.  I don't say that lightly, or as someone who thrives on criticizing everyone else so as to establish my own spiritual superiority, or as someone who is feeding on sour grapes because things aren't the way I would like them.  I say it because of how many people I meet on a daily basis who are discouraged by traditional church and have chosen not to attend anymore.

Everywhere I turn, I hear people complaining about the same thing.  This isn't something localized to a particular area or limited to a certain social strata or denomination --  I hear this from all sorts of people, many with impeccable spiritual credentials. Oftentimes I hear from pastors who have spent decades in ministry who are now questioning the vibrancy of the Church.  Others are just kids off the streets, armed with little more than a spiritual hunger, who refuse to attend church, not because they don't believe, but because they are repelled by what they see.

No matter how you view this issue, no matter what position you have, no matter what church you belong to, you have to admit that something is wrong.  Read more