Indiana Revival Report: Day 30

Jackie came Monday night, along with her husband Dean, her mom, and most of her district staff. I didn't realize she was so tall--and Dean is even taller. She rearranged her weekly return to Washington so she could take in at least one night of the Revival. And of course she was given a chance to share. She warned that she may break out in tears, and she did. She focused on her former missionary service in Romania, and the chances she has to pray with--or for--world leaders, especially those in the Middle East. She mentioned that Israel is America's best ally, and that "those who have read Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation know how the story ends." Again, several pastors prayed over her. It's interesting that despite the egalitarian flavor of this movement, prayers of a rather different sort went up for "the Walorskis." There was a lot of focus on their marriage being strong despite the weekly separations. I suspect we'll begin to hear from some more local politicians before too long.

Monday was the first night of broadcasting in Spanish over WLDC, so, appropriately enough, a Hispanic pastor spoke. She was also the first female pastor so far to take to the pulpit. A man served as her interrupter, so from an English perspective at least, he delivered the written sermon.

And half the 'worship team' was of color, so the racial barrier is pretty much missing in action at Revive Indiana.

The local NBC affiliate gave detailed coverage on their 11:00 report--run supposedly because it was a slow news day, but of course this was the biggest local news item of the week. They interviewed Kyle, a sponsoring local pastor, and a high schooler who was an early instigator of the Skip for Jesus program. And news came in that yet another high school, not even in Elkhart or LaGrange County, has already approved a skip day for March Forth.

The meeting at 4:30 Monday with an assemblage of Amish bishops, ministers, and deacons (0ver 600 were invited) didn't yield any explosive results so far, but just the fact that even a few did show up to dialog with the Revive team was significant. [NOT QUITE--see next post]

I wrote earlier that Monday mornings aren't all that well attended. Not so yesterday--over 200 showed up.

Things show no sign of winding down, and there's a lot of talk about how we are going to keep this revival going long after the 52 days have come to an end. Next week, Revive Tupelo kicks into high gear--without the Revive team, who are all busy here in Indiana. A major focus there is healing between the races.

One humorous note--Kyle hardly ever lets a day go by without managing to work in a 'shameless plug' for his parents' Ace Hardware store in Middlebury.