Welcome to 2004! Yes, I have made some resolutions. It is a ritual. Every year at the beginning of January most of us look at our lives and see things that need improvement or change and we make resolutions for the New Year. Statistics show that most resolutions are sincerely made, enthusiastically initiated, half-heartedly maintained and eventually abandoned.

My wife says I need to make a resolution to slow down, perhaps even stop occasionally, and smell the roses. I like the looks of roses. The brilliant color, delicate petals and delicious smell of the rose are all appealing to me. I do not disdain roses. In fact, I like roses, and no man is a fool who heeds the counsel of his wife.

While there may be a time to casually stroll through some floral paradise and allow the fragrance of flowers to fill our nostrils there is also a divine call to vigilance. The Apostle Paul writes; "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed" (Romans 13: 11).

In 2004 we will continue to wage a war against terrorism, see the Republicans and Democrats battle for supremacy in the political arena, watch the stock market in hopes that the recovery will continue and probably watch a secular society become more tolerant of everything but the cause of Christ.

I am not in the least bit content to let the cause of Christ take a back seat to every sideshow that blows into town and play second fiddle to the world’s allurements and the devil’s devices.

In fact, I am becoming absolutely impassioned about something that I pray will never dim nor die in my heart. I am becoming impassioned about becoming an agent for revival in our state. In fact, I am not just making a resolution to work toward revival; I am surrendering myself to that objective. I am desperate to see revival come to our land before I pass off the scene.

Furthermore, we aren’t waiting on God for revival. He is waiting on us to meet the conditions He has outlined for revival in His Word. God is not some kind of cosmic killjoy who wants to keep our address at 101 Laodicean Avenue. He is more eager to send us revival than we are to receive it. This year, 2004, is the year for churches to become as repulsed with lukewarmness as God is and seek after Him as never before.

Mike Minnix, vice president for evangelization for the Georgia Baptist Convention, has thrown down the gauntlet. His heart beats with a passion for revival and the briefest conversation with him will reveal that he wants to see a revival sweep across this state and nation. He is convinced that a revival must precede a harvest of souls; and he wants to see 50,000 souls saved and baptized in 2005.

His view is consistent with the Word of God where King David cries out, "Create in me a clean heart, O God…. renew a right spirit within me…. restore unto me the joy of thy salvation…. THEN will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee’ (Psalm 51: 10-13). Adrian Rogers said, "If the church ever gets truly revived, look out devil; all heaven will break loose.’

I have got to tell you that the idea of revival that leads to a harvest of souls gets my motor running. In fact, I don’t just want The Christian Index to report the news of the coming revival; I want this paper to become a catalyst for revival. I want to see The Index fan the flame of revival into a mighty conflagration for God.

GBC Executive Director J. Robert White recently said, "I am tired of reading about the great revivals of the past. I want to experience revival here and now. I want to see God do a great work among Georgia Baptists in 2004."

If Georgia Baptists, numbering almost 1.4 million people, would get on fire for God we should be able to evangelize the world. In fact, in order to baptize 50,000 in one year it would only take 1 out of every 28 Georgia Baptists winning one person to Christ.

Charles H. Spurgeon, pastor of the great Metropolitan Tabernacle in London said, "The fact is, brethren, we must have conversion work here. We cannot go on as some churches do without converts. We cannot, we will not, we must not, we dare not. Souls must be converted here, and if there be not many born to Christ, may the Lord grant to me that I may sleep in the tomb and be heard of no more. Better indeed for us to die than to live, if souls be not saved."

This is no time to sit down, drink a cup of coffee and read the minutes of the last meeting. It is time to seize the moment and become champions of Christ for the souls of men.