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Ministry Agenda 2006-2008
The Kentucky State Ministers Conference September 22-33, 2006,
focused on ministers and ministry.
Bishop Stephens opened the
session with a compelling vision for the ministerial family to be..
Work to revive genuine Revival!
Revival is for the church…We need revival. Revival
needs to be revived, but with passion, expectation, and prayer.
When the church has revival, the saints catch fire and begin
to burn. The glow of their fire attracts sinners and they become
curious.
Let’s "stir into flame" the gift of the Spirit
which we have already received of God. It is ours fromHim,but we let it lie dormant, as a slumbering ember merely.
In Thom Rainer’s book Effective Evangelistic Churches
he states: Revival evangelism continues to be used as an effective
evangelistic tool. In a study among American’s top 576
soul winning churches “Revivals” were 8 th in ranking
of the most effective methodologies for winning people to Christ.
Rainer asked the pastors how their church revivals reach people
for Christ when other churches are less successful. Generally,
they explain the success of their revivals by three major factors.
- They plan each revival extensively! Hundreds of hours are
involved in locating and inviting the lost, preparing publicity
and organizing various events and functions.
- They recognize that the results are in the hands of a sovereign
God. One churchdevotesan entire week to prayer and fasting
prior to the revival. The church is open twenty-four hours
a day with people streaming in and out of the sancturary.
- They invite full-time [vocational] evangelists to lead
revival services. “Though we have experienced some
good revivals with other ministers, we have found that a
full-time evangelist is gifted by God to draw the net.”
A pastor in Oklahoma stated rather bluntly, “Yeah, I’ve heard that revivals don’t work today. That’s humbug! The problem is that we are plagued with laziness. If the church leaders and members would do their work, God would honor their labors.”
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