My Social Media-less Life

There’s an old (and mostly canceled) song by the Christian singer Carman (RIP) that has that line over and over, for 20 minutes, in multiple languages.
Which is probably why it got canceled… “cultural appropriation” or some such…

I believe God is doing something new.
I believe God is doing something new.
Joel prophesied that in the end,
The Holy Spirit would be poured out on all men.
I believe God is doing something new.

I didn’t hear that song until I was in my teens but whenever someone says “God is doing something new,” those words (with literally any of the different ways Carman sang it) run through my head.

I was a little late to the “Asbury Revival” news and by then a lot of people had had an opportunity to shoot it down or talk about the “potential pitfalls” of what comes with having a revival.

Currently attending a church that is really only as big as it is because of an outpouring like Asbury is currently experiencing has brought a lot of history and learning experiences for people my age and younger who may not remember much about experiencing it but have parents who did.

One of those lessons learned is don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. God is literally moving in people’s lives and there’s always going to be doubters out there that say it’s fake or that it’s deceitful.

Heck, even being a Christian brings a lot of that kind of negativity from people.

“You moved to Kansas City, Missouri, for a church? What’s different about that church that you can’t get anywhere else? Shouldn’t you just be able to carry that anywhere?”

Yes, I did move for a church. What’s different is the presence of God is actively moving and not just being talked about. And yes, you should just be able to carry it anywhere, but sometimes you’re too sick spiritually to be able to even live from day to day.

Which brings me to my next point.

While thinking about this Asbury thing, I was ruminating on the fact that it appears as though my generation (millennials) got skipped over with a chance for a move of God.

And then the Holy Spirit and I had a chat and He reminded me that my generation has had opportunity after opportunity but we chose to walk away for one reason or another. The biggest reason being we wanted to “experience Egypt” for ourselves instead of just taking our parents’ word for it that the world (Egypt) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I fell for that too for a time. So did my brother. We had an amazing upbringing and still chose to “be dumb” as our mom so succinctly puts it.

And then this entire weekend the Holy Spirit has been freely moving in our church services in a new and fresh way.

It was so much so that one of our pastors said at the end of the service today, “I don’t know what this is, but I’m coming back at 7:30 tonight and anyone who wants to come, can.”

I really didn’t think all that many people would be there, but I knew I wanted to go. I was on lyrics all weekend and although that is an act of worship (thanks to the friend who’s been doing it for almost 30 years and has taught me how to use it as such), it was nice to be in this… whatever it was.

It reminded me of a “typical” (for this church) prayer service with a bit of what my youth worship nights used to be when my family lived in Wisconsin. Odd combination, but with as much as we sang, it was pretty similar to a worship night.

To answer the question of how many people came… more than I was expecting.

But what I got from it was, people are hungry for more of God.

And this isn’t the typical kind of hunger that I’ve grown accustomed to at this church. The kind where it’s for a short period of time and then in about two weeks it’s going to taper off and just the “old fogies” are going to continue it. No… this is deeper than that. Different than that.

This is the kind of hunger that brings change. The kind of hunger that brings revival. The kind of hunger that sees lives restored and bodies healed. Physically, mentally, emotionally.

This didn’t start with the oldies. This started with the Gen Zers. Just like in Asbury, the “younger” ones in our church are really and truly crying out for more of God. In some ways I can see it on their faces. They have no idea what to do with it. But they want more of it.

And our founding pastor, having led two revivals/outpourings in this church, was helping to direct some of these younger ones tonight.

I think for most of us (or maybe just for me?) it came as a bit of a surprise. We had a “youth/young adult” led service on Friday and suddenly… here we are.

It didn’t show up like a mighty wind; there was no bolt of lightning. It was just… there. Like it had been there all along and seeing things about this revival in Asbury was the push these younger people needed to step out and really make it their own.

Another person about my age had the same realization I did about the fact that millennials and Gen Xers did miss some of their moments, but our parents were also about our age when they started crying out in the 1990s and other moves of God began cropping up all over the world.

It’s weird to say I’m proud of the Gen Zers for not missing their moment… but at the same time… I felt as though my generation missed it… and I am proud of the next generation for actually taking ahold of this and making it their own.

I pray it continues and it “infects” the rest of us and the rest of the world.

Let it be, Lord.