Evaluating Revivals

I have been thinking about revivals. Since I came to the Lord and began to serve him in 1995, I have been to several revival meetings. I have even had the privilege of preaching in a few revivals. At the end of every revival I have experienced, I find myself trying to evaluate its effectiveness. How does one measure the effectiveness of a revival? Two measurements are often used to gauge the success or failure of a revival: the number of decisions and the emotional response of the attendees. However, these two measurements are not adequate to gauge whether or not a revival is successful.

I once heard Billy Graham tell a reporter that he assumed 75 to 80 percent of people coming forward were not genuinely converted. Many "decisions" are made in response to pressure from family or loved ones. Some make a decision because their friend made a decision. Others make a decision because they have been manipulated into through scare tactics, bait-and-switch tactics, or other high pressure tactics.

Decisions are easy to get (although it is getting harder to get even these), but what we should be aiming for is repentance. Asking Jesus into your heart is not always the same thing as turning from your sin and trusting Jesus' atoning sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection as the only source of salvation. When I was seven I sat through a gospel presentation after visiting a church. After hearing a very vivid description of the eternal torments of hell, the group of us youngsters were told, "If you don't want to go to hell, say this prayer." In the conventional terms, I made a decision to ask Jesus into my heart. The only problem was I was lost. I wasn't called to repent of sin. I wasn't told what it meant to "trust" in Jesus.

For nearly twelve years, I lived under the assumption that since Jesus was "in my heart," I was okay with God. However, I had never abandoned sin. After years of studying Scripture and reflecting on my life, I have come to believe that I was saved after surrendering to the ministry when I was around twenty years of age. It wasn't until that point that I begin to hate sin. It wasn't until then that I felt the real need of salvation. When I saw my sin and understood God's righteous judgment, I cried out to Jesus to rescue me from sin and I clung to the cross as my only hope of forgiveness and cleansing.

Biblically we should aim for repentance when we preach. By repentance I mean a genuine turning away from sin. I mean that thorn bushes and thistles become fig trees and grapevines. I am not talking about an external moral event, where someone "cleans up" their life, but an internal change of character and attitude. Repentance is no mere whitewashing of the tomb, but it is the resurrecting of the corpse within the tomb. The kind of repentance that leads to life, bears the fruit of righteousness. It isn't a flash in the pan, but a steady burning flame that will continue to burn, until the Lord returns.

The other gauge, emotional response, is likewise inadequate to measure the success of a revival. Emotions are not static. They change constantly. If you are speeding down the highway and see blue lights behind you, you might get a knot in your stomach and "feel" stupid. However, if the blue lights speed past you in pursuit of some worse transgressor, you may "feel" elated. Emotions are easily manipulated.

It has been know for a long time that music can affect the hearer. That is why Hollywood spends so much time and money on scoring movies. The music sets tone for the picture. If you see kids swimming in the ocean and happy music is playing in the background, you assume the scene is capturing a joyful moment. However, if you see that same group of kids in the ocean and hear the "Dun, Dun, Dun, Dun" theme from Jaws, you know someone is going to be eaten by a shark.
Likewise, music can be used to make a crowd more energetic. For that reason, you hardly hear sad music at a ballgame. The music is usually geared toward working up the crowd.

Emotional stories or expressions can be used to move people as well. Billy Boyd's performance in The Return of the King always leaves me teary-eyed. His character, Pippin, starts of childlike in many ways and throughout the film he matures into a reluctant warrior. His face reflects such heartache and shame, such doubt and confusion, that I find myself mourning his loss of innocence. But its just a movie. Pippin isn't real. However, real stories can be told in such a way that they generate an emotional response.

I am not saying that we should not preach to the heart, but we should not play on the emotions. Preaching that brings revival stirs the affections. It strikes at the heart, but not in a way that is manipulative. It strives to describe sin in all of its dark and horrible hues, to set before the listener the reality of judgment, and to extend to them the gracious offer of salvation. Preaching that brings revival moves the heart to repent of sin and to trust in Christ.

When we attend a revival or hear of one going on, we should measure its success by the change it produces. Are saints and sinners brought to repentance? Is sin openly confessed and turned away from? Are people actually different? Is Christ exalted through the proclamation of his Word? Is the Church more evangelistic? Is it more prayerful? Does the congregation long to hear the truth of God's Word rightly divided by his appointed servant? Are those involved more compassionate? More giving? Ready to serve? Well, then they may have experienced a revival.