Transformed City

Transformed city — Revival in Omaha through unity and desperation

Series Context: Lasting Transformation

• Four-week series on lasting transformation, wrapping up with city and national revival

• Framework: the integrated whole person (Ortberg/Willard): will, mind, body, social dimension

  • Will must be surrendered; willpower alone is weak

  • Mind renewed through neuroplasticity God built into human biology

  • Body habits affect mind and heart; addiction is the body overriding the will

• Previous weeks: Emily (opener), Taylor (mind), Paul (family/community)

• Paul’s key line: “When Christians start loving people well, we will see revival”

Scripture Foundation

• John 13:34-35: love one another as Christ loved; this is how the world recognizes disciples

• John 17: Jesus prays that believers would be one, so the world believes the Father sent him

  • Unity is a prerequisite for global mission, not optional

• Acts 2:1-38: Pentecost as the revival template

  • Disciples obeyed (stayed in Jerusalem), prayed continually, waited 10 days, were united

  • Holy Spirit moved; Peter clarified what was happening intellectually

  • 3,000 added in one day; revival spread from church outward to community

What Revival Is (and Isn’t)

• Definition: “a community saturated with God” (Duncan Campbell)

• Arthur Wallace: the church is first awakened, carnality slain, lukewarm made hot, watching community takes notice

• Not purely sovereign, not purely manufactured: both God’s sovereignty and human participation

  • Charles Finney: prayer, fasting, repentance creates conditions

  • But the Holy Spirit convicts; the preacher cannot

• Not just an emotional encounter or a single evangelistic campaign

• True revival affects the economy: bars close, crime drops, private sin changes publicly

The Welsh Revival (1904-1905)

• Evan Roberts: ordinary church kid, driven by fear of missing Jesus, attended every prayer meeting

• Marked at a meeting when guest preacher cried “Lord, bend us”; Evan whispered “bend me” and fell unconscious

• Five months later, asked to fill in for a sick pastor; prayed “Lord, bend us” from the pulpit

  • Over 100,000 conversions followed across roughly 18 months

• Coal miners converted: stopped drinking, swearing, beating horses

  • Horses had to be retrained to respond to commands without profanity: caused a national coal shortage in winter 1905

• Police laid off; no murders recorded for two years

• People convicted outside the building, giving their lives to Jesus on the lawn

• Parallel today: Omaha principal (Casey Lungren, Millard) told Taylor: “I’ve never seen more prayer groups, Bible studies, kids wearing Jesus shirts; Vape confiscations are down. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”

Revival in Omaha Now

• Tim Keller: “One church cannot reach a city, but a movement of churches may”

  • Each church (Tribe, City Light, Lifegate, Love Church, Bridge, etc.) carries a unique assignment

• “O,NE” event: nine years running, now city-wide high school movement

  • Last year outgrew Liberty First Credit Union Arena (Ralston Arena); delayed 15 min for 300+ overflow students

  • Promoted in ~20 public high schools as student-led club events

  • Week after ONE: training day at Tribe for students on prayer, evangelism, and starting legal school Bible studies

  • Principal Casey Lungren coming to teach students how to start Bible studies legally in public schools

• Asbury Revival (2023): sparked by a college student publicly confessing gossip/slander; chapel ran three weeks

  • Warning: seminary students 300 yards away mocked it; “show me a revival not being persecuted and I’ll show you what’s not a real revival”

• Contending prayer night the night before O,NE at Waypoint Church (Taylor and Tyler co-leading)

Two Conditions for Revival: Reconciliation and Desperation

• Reconciliation

  • Jonathan Edwards (First Great Awakening): more restitution happened in two years than in the prior 30

  • “The Holy Spirit doesn’t come to bring unity; he manifests where there is unity”

  • Practical call: who are you at odds with? Text, call, hug, meet for lunch

• Desperation

  • A.W. Tozer: revival is every person in a community taking their next step of obedience at the same time

  • Wakeboard story: praying desperately over a trick, Tor landed it; “don’t tell me God doesn’t answer prayer”

  • Turner Schentle story: secret fast and prayer walk with Tyler; Turner now executive director of Hope

  • “We have strategized ourselves out of the power of the anointing of the Holy Ghost”

  • Closing question: what is your current desperation level for God?

Next Steps

• Attend or promote the prayer night before O,NE at Waypoint Church - Taylor and Tyler co-leading; open to adults and older generations contending for city revival.

• Mobilize students for the O,NE training day at Tribe - Week after O,NE: prayer, evangelism training, and legal school Bible study launch with Principal Casey Lungren.