By Waylon Bailey, Senior Pastor First Baptist Covington
One of the most consistent polling questions in America has to do with whether or not we are on the right track.
The question gets a consistently negative response. America is on the wrong track. Politicians use this to prove whatever they want to change.
Could it be what America needs is not about the economy or the congress? Could it be that what the American public wants is a change of heart?
What would a real revival look like and could it happen here?
We have an example of what a real revival looks like and the kind of place where it can occur. In 1904/1905, one of the most famous revivals of history occurred. In 1904 Wales erupted in change and repentance as the power of the Holy Spirit swept the nation.
This is the kind of change that it brought.
Public houses (pubs) went bankrupt as coal miners and other workers went home after work to spend time with their family.
For the most part, crime ceased. The main work of police involved controlling crowds and traffic for the meetings held all over the country. Some police formed barbershop quartets to sing in churches since there was no one to arrest.
The most humorous of the changes involved the change in coal miners’ language. Some mines had to shut down briefly because when the miners were converted they stopped using obscene language. The mules in the mines would not work because they could no longer understand their commands.
No records were kept but the firm estimate is that 150,000 people were converted. Churches and chapels began all over the country.
The revival began at the preaching of a young coal miner by the name of Evan Roberts. Roberts had been a committed Christian from his teen years. He never lived a wayward life. He faithfully attended church, studied the Bible, and prayed.
In the spring of 1904 Roberts experienced a greater sense of God’s presence. One night during this time he was awakened from his sleep and led into a deep communion with God. This experience continued every evening for the next few months.
When Roberts went off to school, he experienced an even greater time with God and received the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Feeling compelled to share his message of the reality of God and the possibility of complete forgiveness of sins, he preached to his church youth group.
The results astonished Robert’s church. By the end of the week, 60 people had responded. Before the end of the second week, Evan Roberts took his team throughout the Welsh valleys.
By the end of the first year upwards of 100,000 people had been saved. The Welsh Revival transformed the nation.
It can happen here.