NORTHEAST REVIVAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
WHAT is it all about
If you are a Christian and have been in church for any length of time, the word REVIVAL is not a foreign word. If you're a Pastor or leader in your church, you've used it once or twice... or at least 30,000 times. But do you truly know what it means and do you know the weight that true revival carries with it? And if this "Revival" that you've been praying for and talking about for so long actually comes, will you be ready for everything to change? For your world to be flipped upside-down? Will you be ready to steward what Holy Spirit is doing and be able to lead your family, your church, your community?
I believe we are already seeing "waves" and "outbreaks" of revival all over New England and before you know it, there will be another Great Awakening in the Northeast... as well as in the rest of our country and the world. It's happening. Are you a part of this historical outpouring or are you willing to watch from the sidelines?
Join us as we hear from pastors and revivalists that have been a part of one of the greatest outpourings our generation has ever seen (so far) and maybe one of the largest single moves of God this world has seen in the last century. The Brownsville Revival started on Father's Day 1995 and over a 5-year period, an estimated 2.5 million people from around the globe visited Brownsville Assembly of God. Nearly 2,000+ people had testified to accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior at the alters during that five year stretch. The church continued to see much fruit and an ever-present revival atmosphere for years following 2000. The effects of the Brownsville Revival are seen and felt all over the world today.
During this two day conference, you will experience spirit-filled, anointed worship, powerful preaching and teaching, useful workshops, and you will build unity as you learn, worship, and pray alongside other pastors and leaders.
Reformation. Reconciliation. Revival.
One night, a couple years ago, as I was praying I felt the Lord pulling me in a particular direction. I was praying about revival in New England and specifically for the first time we were hosting this event. I heard him whisper gently in my spirit three words- REFORMATION. RECONCILIATION. REVIVAL.
I immediately began to read about The Reformation... stuff I haven't read since Bible College. While I was doing that, I began to listen to worship and sermons preached during the Brownsville Revival... watching videos on YouTube and seeing old friends burning with passion during worship and hearing familiar voices that have been a part of shaping me... and the pool in my spirit began to stir. I've felt this before... this stirring... and a few days later, I received a message from my mom who had been talking to one of our speakers, Peter Yeoman. The message was this, "Wondering: did you know the weekend of your Oct conference is the weekend celebration of the 500 year anniversary of the Reformation??!"
Well... that was it. The first confirmation of a handful which came to me over the next couple of weeks.
Now preparing for another encounter with His Glory, a couple years removed from that experience... the message remains the same:
NEW ENGLAND WAS ONCE ALIVE, IS NOW DEAD, THEREFORE MUST BE REVIVED! Medically you cannot be revived until you have died. New England has been in this position a few times before and thank God we are here again! The Church seems down and out but there is still movement and signs of life happening below the surface! And hold on because we are on the threshold of another supernatural jolt from Heaven's Defibrillator!
Reformation: The Lord desires to tear down the systematic, religious structures and idols we have built up. It's too true and too common that the majority of our religious institutions were once formed with the greatest of intentions but yet have since been diminished to just that- religious institutions that were formed with great intent. The revelation of Jesus is no longer (for the most part) the primary mission. There's no longer the opportunity to discover how high, how wide, and how deep the Father's love is for us. Where can we go to experience the freedom of Holy Spirit and encounter the God of the Mount Sinai manifestations?!
We've become inundated with programs, politics, and philosophies of how to "reach" people. But in finding the "how to minister", we have forgotten that we are people ourselves! That the Creator of the Universe has not chosen us to be partakers only, but co-laborers in bringing the the message of the Messiah... the message of the cross... the message of love to people that are similarly experiencing life as we were once experiencing it. To reform the hierarchy of church cannibalism that has chewed up and spit out those not deemed worthy or those that have disqualified themselves as workers fit for duty... only to realize that we are one Google search, one Facebook post, one text message, one movie purchase away from being disqualified ourselves. Pending someone actually finds out. Right?
Reconciliation: Once we can admit that our systems, our way of doing things, even our compromises in our theology and our convictions have failed us... and once we release them to the work of God's wrecking ball- then we can move towards reconciliation. The reality is, reconciliation has been his plan for thousands of years. I'm not sure why, but we always think that for some reason, God needs our help putting it all together. All he's called us to is to be Jesus to a lost and dying world. We just like to stack layer upon layer of ourselves on it, until we reek of flesh. Stinky, human, self absorbed flesh. Just think about it. We keep saying to ourselves, "God needs me". REALLY?! He breathed the universe into existence without you but He really needs you now?! God doesn't need us... but He does want us. He wants us to partner with Him in this quest of reaching Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the Earth. For Christ gave up his heavenly throne to come to Earth as a man while walking in the divine nature of God... and I believe him when he said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." John 14:12
This reconciliation I'm talking about is to re-unite us to Him. To bring back together a relationship in which we have wandered from. It's not a 50/50 reunification. It's us being reconciled back to Him. To restore our fervor... our passion... the fire inside our bellies for the One who didn't just die for us so that we avoid hell... but a fire for the One who gave us life and life more abundant. Who drives our purpose and who has branded our identity in eternity. He desires us to come back to Him! Lord, grant us that desire to return to you! Do you hear Him calling?!
Revival: I have heard the call to repentance and reconciliation... and after much travail I can now say that my spirit is in communion with His Spirit and my soul cries out with an undying thirst for more of Him! This is the cry of revival. The gut-wrenching anguish of sinning against a Holy God... the hunger to be in His Presence and painful thirst that can only be satisfied by more of the Lord in your life... and the heart pounding resolution to go out from His Presence with the Word of the Lord and with a fire in your belly- seeing lives transformed as hell is vacated.
This is the response in which our Father is calling us to. Not "emotionalism", "sensationistic", "manifestation seeking" carnal worship. But true God fearing, Holy Spirit filled, captivating worship of the Lord God Almighty. When one day in His courts IS better than one thousand elsewhere! When we repent... and then repent again... and repent again... and when there's nothing to repent for, we repent for our families... and then for our church... and then for our city... and then for our country. We know that we can come to God just as we are BUT we cannot encounter the Love of God and not be changed! So we're either moving closer or further away! As a Christian, a leader, a pastor I should be moving closer... right?
Yes of course!!! So now what? What do we do with all this? Well... it's quite simple.
WE JUST GO AFTER GOD WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE. PERIOD.
I know... it's not that simple.... Ummmmm....Yes- it is.
This is for real and God's doing something significant here in New England. It's not starting here nor is it even close to ending here... but this is a part of what the Lord is doing in our region of the country. Yes... "the least Bible minded"region! Why is that significant? I'm glad you asked... because, my friend, it's the lost that need salvation. It's the dark which gives way to the light. It is in utter emptiness and desperation which one cries out for life, love, meaning, and their very next breath. We are primed... we are ready for a move of God... for the Next Move of God... and He is moving!
Revival Fire Fall!
In the name of Jesus!!! AMEN!
-John W. Gagne