No videos I have ever posted on any website are nearly as important to me as (1)-(6) posted below. No word in the English language has been more watered down and more treated as a vacuous jargon term than “revival.” Yet the dramatic decline in western Christianity in recent decades leaves “the real thing” as our only hope of widespread renewal. Though in the real thing, the Holy Spirit falls on Christians, what makes real revival unique (as in the Welsh Revival of 1904-1906 and the Hebrides Revival of 1949-1954) is the sudden massive outpouring of the Spirit on many thousands of unchurched people who have no interest in conversion or spiritual renewal! To me, the revivals discussed in the 6 videos are more persuasive evidence of the existence of a personal God than any healing miracles.

In my experience, evangelicals are not interested in watching such videos either because they are not particularly interested in revival or because they don’t believe there are any keys to igniting revival. Their misguided apathy is exposed by the spectacular use God made of seemingly insignificant ordinary Christians to spark the revivals explored in the videos. Few, if any Christians are willing to pay the price that these holy souls paid for revival.

(1) Evan Roberts was a young, emotionally unstable Welsh coal miner with little formal education. In the first video, J. Edwin Orr, an expert on revivals, lectures on how the famous Welsh revival exploded through Roberts’ faithful quest that led to the conversion of 100,000 Welsh people in just 4-5 months!

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=j+edwun+orr+welsh+revival&view=detail&mid=7...

(2) The 2nd video is a documentary based on Roberts’ diary of his faith journey. It has photos of the churches, of Roberts, and of the young women who were at the revival’s center. The revival often featured unstructured spontaneous services that lasted until hours after midnight. A couple of hymns featured in the revival are sung on the video:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+diary+of+revival+welsh&view=detail&...

(3) The Welsh Revival spread all over the world. Its American manifestation was the “Azusa Street Revival” in which William Seymour, the son of a Black slave, was a central figure. Given the eventual global multiplication of Charismatic/ Pentecostal Christians into hundreds of millions, it can be argued that Seymour is the most spiritually effective African American who ever lived. Here is a documentary on the faith journey that allowed Seymour to give miraculous birth the global Pentecostal movement:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+azuza+stree+revival+&view=detail&mi...

(4) The 4th video features Duncan Campbell, the Scottish Presbyterian minister, whom God used in the Hebrides Revival of 1949-1954. The video highlights the catalytic role of the Smith sisters, 2 women in their mid-80s, one of whom was blind and the other crippled!  A couple of years ago, I worked with a Spokane pastor on a tiny house viallge project.  He mentioned to me that his Dad (blind like Peggy Smith!)  joined Duncan Campbell in regular prayer intercession for Scottish revival shortly before the outpouring of the Spirit began.  Be patient with Campbell’s preachy tone:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=yutube+hebredes+revival&view=detail&mid=B9E...


(5) George Otis, Jr. is likely the most well-informed expert on 21st century revivals. His research includes several DVD documentaries of the greatest outpourings of the Holy Spirit today, especially in Third Word countries. Our region has recently hosted 2 highly successful interdenominational 4-day revival workshops sponsored by Otis's "Sentinel Group. This lecture will blow your mind!

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+goerge+otis+jr.&view=detail&mid=E86...

(6) For an amazing inspirational documentary on the recent Fiji Islands revival, watch this video:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=le+tthe+sea+resound+youtube+otis&view=detai...

The 2 most compelling facts about genuine revivals are:
(1) The  Holy Spirit falls more on skeptics than on believers and thus many thousands are quickly converted.  In the Welsh revival of 1904-06, Evan Robert's expectation of 100,000 conversions of the unchurched was fulfilled in just 4 months.

(2) The central figure who catalyzes the revival is obsessed with prayer intercession and a prolonged intense longing for revival.   Consider these examples:

(a) Evan Roberts was an emotionally unstable coal miner who was poorly trained in theology.  But he was chosen (and not more qualified, balanced, and gifted ministers) because he alone was willing to pay the price. 

(b) The Pentecostal revival sparked by William Seymour has ultimately led to 600 million Pentecostals in the world.  In that sense, he (and not Martin Luther King, Jr.) is the most spiritually effective African American leader of all time.  Yet Seymour  had previously failed in his attempt to be a pastor and that failure made him desperate enough to meet God's conditions for a spectacular revival. 

(c) The Smith sisters were 2 infirmed octogenarians who became prayer warriors for revival and encouraged church elders to join them in their prayer vigils. One sister was blind and the other was crippled; so neither could any longer attend church.  I was incredibly inspired to learn from my colleague, Ian (a retired Spokane pastor), that his blind father joined Duncan Campbell in regular prayer vigils for revival in Scotland and the Hebrides islands.  Thus, in the Hebrides Revival of 1949-52 blind and crippled believers overcame their apparently limited spiritual potential and helped "pray in" a spectacular revival in which thousands of indifferent Scots were suddenly obsessed with the need to get right with God.    The videos posted tell these stories very well.