Surprises on the Journey
Over the past sixteen years, our quest to understand and document true revival has taken us into forty-two nations on six continents. At times, the scope and intensity of this pursuit has been reminiscent of the Discovery Channel’s hit television series Storm Chasers. Lots of false alarms accompanied by moments of sheer exhilaration.
Following the moving cloud of God’s Presence has also yielded its share of surprises — with none more impressive than the comprehensive nature of God’s reviving work. We were fully prepared to encounter widespread conversions, social changes, and perhaps the occasional miracle, but that was where our expectations ended. The notion that spiritual awakenings were the primary impetus for social reforms and economic renewal (a case argued by Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Fogel), or that the healing presence of God could extend to the land itself, was new territory for us.
A second surprise related to the sheer volume of these Spirit-swept communities. Since our investigation commenced in the mid 1990s, we have encountered no less than 800 examples (and there are surely many more we haven’t yet heard about). Locations range from large metropolises such as São Paulo, Brazil and Cali, Colombia, to clusters of rural villages in places like Papua New Guinea, the Peruvian Amazon, Nunavut Canada, and the Fijian Islands.
