to Revival
2004 to launch his website sermonindex.
net. It offers free downloads of nearly
17,000 sermons from preachers like
George Whitfield, A. W. Tozer, Corrie
Ten Boom and William Booth.
“It’s strong, biblical preaching by
Holy Spirit-filled men and women whom
people don’t always hear week to week,”
explains Gordon.
Since 2007 his ministry scope has
expanded to include organizing revivals
– the first in Canton, Ohio, followed by
two last year in Greenock, Scotland, and
Atlanta, Georgia.
Gordon believes the need and time for
true revival comes when society is at its
“most bankrupt” – and “right now Christianity is at its most hopeless state, going
downhill faster than we can record.”
He acknowledges that revival may
be a “dirty” word for some. That’s partly
because of revivals that have ended in
scandal, such as the one in Florida last
year led by Canadian Todd Bentley. “Yes,
we’re human, but the message should
not be that sin is OK,” says Gordon.
A true revival, in fact, involves not
only forgiveness but also the preceding
repentance and restitution, Gordon
says. “It’s not only saying sorry but also
vieira’s story is a challenge to the Church,
says hiemstra. “Christ calls us to unity with
all Christians, not only the ones we have an
affinity with. The Church is always a cultural
expression, and we are seeing that a new cultural expression is needed to meet a culture
that has changed. The question is how can
we incarnate the gospel for a new culture?”
for some like vieira, who have “
disconnected from organized religion but not from
Jesus,” the answer to that question may be
too little and too late.
his focus is reserved for his family (
including studying scripture with his sons
in twice weekly sessions he calls “
Theology with dad”), his friends and doing the
things he enjoys such as music. and so his
life in babylon continues. n
–MARY LOU HARRISON
repenting the way of life and choosing
to live differently.”
When Gordon was planning the nature and tone of his revivals, he asked
himself how it would look if Paul the
Apostle were in charge. “And God said
in my heart, ‘Do everything opposite to
what you usually see.’ ”
Each conference is free, sells no
books or materials, offers equal podium
time to both well-known and unknown
speakers (all of whom pay their own
way) and gathers no collection (with the
exception of two that were immediately
distributed by area churches to people
in poverty). Attendees sing only simple,
older hymns, which Gordon says even
the young people find “worshipful.”
Gordon doesn’t claim to have a corner on the conference market or to know
all the answers. This is only a “small
piece of God’s plans.” His next conference is June 2-4, 2009, in Barnsdall,
Oklahoma. n –ALEX NEWMAN
fireproof hits Canada
The pro-marriage feature film Fireproof, released last september in american theatres, has unleashed a minor
firestorm of its own. while most rave about it – with
american audiences cheering at screenings and thousands of
personal stories of change on the official website – others have
been dismissive. Chat board comments range from “finally a
movie that empowers people never to give up in their commitments” to “absolutely horrifying” and “lame.”
gene Tempelmeyer, pastor of Toronto’s spring garden baptist Church, which screened the film in early april, admits he
has low tolerance for “Christian cheese” but found the movie
better than expected.
The story follows a young couple who have drifted to the verge of divorce. firefighter Caleb holt (kirk Cameron) is courageous at work but not in marriage, while
his wife Catherine (erin bethea) openly courts the attentions of a co-worker.
Caleb’s father, John (harris Malcolm), asks him to consider doing the love
dare – 40 days of increasingly challenging love exercises. Caleb does, eventually
understanding what it means to love unconditionally.
reportedly costing $500,000 to make – thanks to the volunteer cast and crew
– the movie became the fourth bestseller in the united states its first weekend and
had the largest box office takes of films released on 1,000 screens or less. in Canada,
the movie was released in churches and media outlets. life 100.3, a radio station in
barrie, ont., purchased screening rights to show in area churches because the “
timing was perfect,” says promotions manager Jen Taylor. “we hear more and more
about marriages struggling.”
The response has been “bigger than expected,” Taylor adds. “we only planned
on doing a few shows but [with] the demand … we wanted to make sure as many
people as possible were able to see this movie.” They ended up with 15 screenings.
Centre st. Church in Calgary had a similar experience. four viewings in March
drew a total audience of 3,244, sold 422 copies of the movie, 700 books and 21
Love Dare bible study guides.
“The movie surprised me. Most of the time you think you’ve seen it all but
this one hit home with its bluntness,” says deb Mitchell, communications director
for Centre st.
“it dealt with two issues – relationships that develop in the workplace and
internet pornography – in a meaningful way,” says Tempelmeyer. “it was as if this
couple were living out things that i keep seeing walk through my office door.”
but it’s the Love Dare study book – non-existent until the demand from the
movie drove the producers to write it – that Tempelmeyer credits with improving
marriages. “because i’ve had couples doing the book for about a month, they have
noticed temperature changes in their marriage.”
The book pre-sold 600,000 copies and currently sits at number 10 on amazon.
com. both movie and book are being promoted on the Canadian Marriage and family
network ( www.cfmn.ca), whose mission is “to inspire and equip churches in Canada
to transform marriages and families one congregation at a time.” n –ALEX NEWMAN
May / June 2009
May / June 2009
