According to Ephesians 4, the evangelist is as much a gift to the Church as is a pastor. In God’s economy, we simply have different functions within the Body, but that does not minimize the significance of any one gift. Depending on who you’re listening to, you’ll get a different perspective on the state of evangelism in America today. To observe some contemporary churches who are supposed to be “cutting edge,” a sustained four-day revival meeting is antiquated.

However, those of us whom God has called into vocational evangelism have been saying for years that the harvest is as ripe as ever. Unfortunately, our voices seem to fall on deaf ears. It’s inconceivable to me that those who say revivals have out-lived their effectiveness are speaking from a limited perspective and yet, they are being quoted as a voice of authority.

Why not ask the evangelists themselves? As a matter of fact, I met this week with several evangelists throughout the nation to get their perspective on this very issue. The reports were incredible.

For me personally, in the last three weeks we have seen 55, 46, and 58 professions of faith recorded. Now, consider this statistic. A church that annually baptizes 29 is in the top 2% of our entire denomination. And yet, many evangelists will see twice that number saved in one week! Go figure!

It’s almost like there is a demonic conspiracy to send out propaganda that will discourage revival meetings because the devil knows that Hell is shaken and Heaven moves into action when God’s people prepare, pray, and attend such meetings.

Fortunately, by a slim majority, most of our Georgia churches are still scheduling revival meetings and we appreciate this trend. Historically, baptisms increase, more lives are changed, the moral climate is raised, and the God-consciousness of communities is increased when churches use vocational evangelists in their revivals.

I’m finding that often times it is the laymen who are the ones approaching their pastor and asking him to schedule a revival. It’s not unusual for a pastor to say, “This is the first revival we’ve had in five years.”

In fact, I was in Jackson, Tenn., recently where that was the case. We saw 93 decisions for Christ and a packed house every night.

I’m fearful that we may be giving our people what they want, but not what they need. My concern is that we are in danger of lowering our standards in an attempt to accommodate the mentality of a world that is an enmity with Christ and the carnality of a Christian community that is becoming complacent.

I am fully aware that many who read these words will disregard them as irrelevant. There are some situations where a Harvest Day approach is recommended over a four-day meeting. However, I am of the persuasion that if the people are mobilized to following the evangelist’s guidelines for prayer and preparation, then attendance will be surprisingly good, expectations will be high, and by Wednesday evening the momentum will crescendo into an experience that will be long-remembered as positive and worth repeating.

Every generation has had its share of nay-sayers, but evangelists see the positives. I can only say that after 25 years of being on the road, we’re still seeing great attendance and more salvations recorded than ever. So, once again, these are exciting days for impacting our culture with the Gospel.