Letter To The Church | March 28, 2023
March 28, 2023
Overflow. That is the only word I can come up with to explain how this year, 2023, has seemed.
Right from the beginning of January when we entered a twenty-one-day fast together during our SEEK season, the hunger of our people and the nearness of our God has been a divine intersection of an outpouring of God’s Spirit. I don’t recall a time like this in our history when our services have been so marked by crowds in the service and people at the altars in such overflow. God has drawn near during a time when it seems we are beginning to see the sprinkles of coming revival rains appear across our nation.
While Jane and I were on vacation somewhere warm (south of the border), we began to hear of the historic move of God taking place at Asbury University, a small Christian college that has become a bellwether for revival in American culture. Students started a prayer chapel that didn’t end for weeks and drew the attention of a generation. News media was not allowed in. Roads were closed due to “revival overflow traffic.” Tens of thousands of people gathered in multiple chapels from all over the nation and beyond. Others who couldn’t get in worshipped on the lawn.
It is the first revival signs to appear on the American landscape in over two decades, and surely a signpost of what I believe is still to come in greater measure.
Several of our students drove all night to go experience it and came back aflame with greater passion and faith that God still moves in reviving His Church.
Our Thursday morning prayer set exploded and went around the clock for almost a week, with people driving from Colorado, New York, and New Mexico to experience the Presence of God in our prayer room. We saw families gather to pray together, men lead their families in prayer for the first time, and Gen Z lead the way both in the prayer room, but in our jam-packed Revival Night Services that we spontaneously called for Sunday nights, and brought the township traffic to a standstill. We were in the overflow of God’s nearness and power.
In just the first few months, we have seen over 500 people surrender their lives to Christ, hundreds of testimonies of life-change and boldness to witness about Jesus to friends and family. We’ve recently had teams from our School of Ministry traveling to five different countries on mission, and one team to New York state ministering in schools and youth groups, igniting revival fires as they go.
In addition, Jane and I just returned from India for the first time in five years. We were able to see and dedicate the three schools Radiant has built as mission bases in the most populated and most densely “unreached” nation on the face of the earth. The impact Radiant is having around the world is unspeakable. We had the opportunity to minister to a few hundred pastors who each oversee 150+ churches. We landed back in the states exhausted and overflowing with gratitude and wonder for the privilege to serve Jesus in the nations of the earth!
Now we are nearing the most significant weeks on the calendar as followers of Jesus. Palm Sunday will mark the beginning of Holy Week leading up to Good Friday and the Resurrection celebration. I can’t tell you how weighty this year’s approach to this day of days feels to me. I am trembling with holy awe in my Spirit with anticipation. The reality that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, is enough to fascinate me for the rest of my life. The Holy Spirit, the power of God that filled the first disciples with boldness and power, still lives in the heart of every Christian and empowers us to testify to Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the devil.
I want to encourage you today to let the Holy Spirit overflow your life in the next few weeks. Allow Him to overflow your thoughts, your words, and your focus. Easter is a perfect time to invite someone in your world to come with you to Easter at Radiant. Especially this year, with God moving in such a powerful way – who is it that God would have you go out of your way to share what God has done in your life and invite them to come and see?
Remember the Samaritan woman that Jesus ministered to beside Jacobs well? She was lost, broken, and ostracized by her community. She wasn’t looking for Jesus that day, but Jesus was looking for her. He offered her a drink of “living water” that would quench her thirst once and for all. I love how John records her testimony in John 4:28-30:
“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” So they went out of the town and were coming to Him.”
What has Jesus done in your life that has caused you to leave behind your “water jar” (that which you have repetitively used to try to satisfy your spiritual thirst)? How has He transformed your family? Isn’t it time to go and invite others to come and see?
Join me in prayer over the next couple of weeks.
Pray that God will give us boldness to proclaim Him Lord to our city and region.
Pray that God will give us boldness to share our faith with others.
Pray that God would instill within each of us a sense of urgency for the hour we are living in.
Pray that many would come hungry and thirsty to our services on Easter weekend, and just as John described it, they would come to Him.
I am believing that what God has started this year will continue to overflow in the life of Radiant and will splash over into our city and beyond. Let us not forget that God is the One who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or think!
