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Written by Sparky Pritchard Monday, 05 October 2009 09:53

Times were hard and people were concerned.  The year is 1857.  Many believed, and rightly so, that America was a nation in decline spiritually, politically, and economically.  The evidence was all there.

• Spiritually, many people became disillusioned as pastors had abandoned the proclamation of the Gospel in order to preach and predict the end of the world in the late 1840s.  It didn’t happen, and the credibility of the church suffered.
• Politically, the nation was divided over the issue of slavery, and war loomed on the horizon.
• Economically, banks were failing, railroads were going bankrupt, factories were closing, and unemployment was increasing.  Panic was setting in.

In the lower Manhattan district of New York, one church that had been steadily losing members took action by hiring a man to do aggressive visitation and outreach.  But his efforts brought no results.  Apathy seemed to rule in the hearts of God’s people.  Was there any answer to this dilemma?

The man in charge of visitation surprised everyone.  He rented out a hall on Fulton Street and announced that prayer meetings would be held to pray for spiritual revival in the church, city, and country.  At the first meeting (September 23) only six attended the lunchtime session.  That would have discouraged most men, but not Jeremy Lamphier.  He knelt with the others and sought God’s face and blessing.

By the third week, 40 dropped in to pray at noon.  Lamphier was urged by those who came to make the prayer time a daily event.  This coincided with another traumatic event – the crash of the stock market on October 10.  Would this discourage those who prayed?  Hardly!  As people were laid off … more came to pray.  Within six months, there were 10,000 people gathering in New York to ask God for revival.  Other cities began to experience similar movements.  In Chicago, the Metropolitan Theater daily opened its doors to 2,000 who came to pray.  The same things were being seen in Cleveland and St. Louis.  A new organization known as the YMCA played a crucial role in this movement.

Strangely, even the media had a hand in fueling this revival.  Back in New York, newspapers were providing extensive “coverage” for this developing story.  There was little “emotionalism” … and the backbone of the revival was not the pastors, but laypeople who were prompted by the Spirit of God to pray.

The end result was ultimately labeled the Third Great Awakening.  It started on our shores and spread to Europe, South Africa, India, Australia, and the Pacific.  People were coming to Christ.  Church members recommitted themselves.  Families established daily times of devotion.  Communities were changed.  Pastors renewed their focus on the preaching the Gospel as the cross was magnified.

We may not change the world … but you are invited to attend our special prayer sessions on Thursday evening from 7 to 8 pm.  Our numbers doubled this past week.  May God renew and revive us.

-- Sparky