confessions of a church planter

As I’ve stated in my previous posts, a person, a church, and a nation cannot predict revival nor produce revival. Only God breathing a new breath of His Spirit can produce revival or restoration to life. We can, however, set our sails to catch the wind of heaven or open the airway to receive that new breath! The last post dealt with prayer. In this post I want to deal with confession. I know that’s everyone’s favorite subject. It’s certainly mine! Well, I confess, I just lied. Confession is tough, but as Charles Finney said, “a revival is near when Christians begin to confess their sins to one another.”

Confession is a tricky subject. Some Catholics love the discipline. Some former Catholics despise it. Some Protestants think that it’s only something you do once and your ticket is punched to heaven. Others, view it as a healthy discipline of accountability and important for healing. That’s how I see it. I believe that if I confess my sins to God, God is the only one who can forgive me (1 John 1:9). Not only does God forgive me, but he cleanses. However, I also believe that when I confess my sins to another Christ-follower and he prays for me, then healing takes place (James 5:16). That’s why most Wednesdays you’ll see me with a few other guys drinking coffee and confession. Hey, coffee and confession-that’s a good combination. When it comes to confession, we’re responsible for confession about 5 specific areas:

1. Walk with Christ-We share how we’re doing in the areas of prayer and Bible study. Usually this is an indicator of how much we’re going to have to confess concerning the other four areas.

2. Diet/Exercise-Christ calls us to complete stewardship, which includes our bodies.

3. Thought life-If there’s anything that trips-up men more than anything else, it’s their thought life. So many pastors lose ministry b/c of adultery or sexual immorality. A lot of people think it starts there, but it actually starts with one’s thoughts. So, whether it’s a computer screen or someone live and in person, we need to capture all thoughts captive for Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Your head always directs your feet!

4. Marriage-Are we loving our wives like Christ loved the Church? That’s a hard question b/c sometimes we (pastors) neglect our wife for the church. That’s backwards, isn’t it. Christ died for the Church so my marriage doesn’t have to (dude, that’s good and if you quote that, please give me credit). None of the guys in my group want to lose our marriages to gain a few more in the church.

5. Church-Are we serving the churches we serve? That’s a good question. It’d be easy for churches to end up serving their pastors, but we’re called to do the opposite. Your definition of serving might be different than mine, but in principle, pastors are called to serve their churches. I just read about a church building/land in Decatur being sold for $17 million. The reason it was sold is b/c the pastor was being served by the church (and it wasn’t healthy service either), not the other way around.

If you can establish some type of honest confession with someone who is trustworthy and be specific in your confession, you’re setting your sails for the wind of heaven. Watch revival come!

“Revival can be expected when Christians have the spirit of prayer for a revival- that is, when they pray as if their hearts were set on it.”-Charles Finney

One of the primary characteristics of revival of an individual, church, or nation is prayer. That makes sense considering that prayer is our red phone to God. It’s our direct-line to only one who can impart revival. Throughout the history of revival, people testify to the intensity of prayer and to the common themes of prayer. Prayer for revival is one theme. Another is confession, which I’ll discuss tomorrow. A third theme of revival-driven prayer is praying for those who don’t know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In fact, Finney says, “The spirit of prayer is a state of continual desire and anxiety for the salvation of sinners.”

Confession: I’ve got desire, but not anxiety! I want people to know Jesus, but I’m not anxious over it. Just being honest. I confessed that to God this morning, in fact. This is what I said: God, burden my heart for the things that burden Your heart. Burden equals anxiety. Burden equals “it never goes away.” Burden equals action. Burden equals experiencing something that might even be considered physiological at the thought of someone dying without a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

In psychological terms, anxiety can often be relieved through drugs and counseling. In spiritual terms, anxiety/burden can only be relieved through prayer, but not simply prayer. Finney tells the story of one woman who began praying, and in doing so, became more burdened for those yet to receive Christ. That’s why prayer must be accompanied with the sharing of the good news. Finney said that the burdened woman wanted her pastor to schedule an evangelistic meeting. These were her exact words: “If you do not schedule the meeting, I will die, because there is going to be revival.”

Further confession: I don’t think that Christians, in general, have a burden for non-Christians much less a desire for the salvation of sinners. Would you die if you don’t see folks come to know the life-saving, life-changing love of God through Jesus Christ? I pray you do and that I do too!

Confession: I want revival. Growing up, the subject of revival was common in certain circles of my life. When I got to college, revival was pursued at the student ministry I attended. My roommate and I had a quote (I can’t remember to whom the quote belonged) that said, “Before revival takes place in the church, it must take place in the individual.” Our church, The Vine, is about to conclude a series called “reVive.” Jonathon Edwards said, “We can’t organize revival. We can only set our sails to catch the wind of heaven.” Our church isn’t trying to organize revival. We’re simply trying to catch the wind of heaven. We want to do what we can so that God can do what only God can do. We want to prepare for a mighty movement of God. The denotation of revival is “restoration to life.” The connotation of revival is awareness of the glory and holiness of God and the pursuit of humility and adoration (Edwards). We want this to happen. However, in order for this to happen collectively, it’s got to happen individually. I can’t rest on someone else wanting it. I’ve got to want it, pray for it, and pursue it. This series that I’m starting is about how I want it, pray for it, and pursue it. If you want it too, I invite you to join me in the journey.