Is Revival Coming?

Weekly Update – September 25th, 2025 

After the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, many are wondering if revival will break out in America. Kirk’s memorial service was likely the largest in recorded history, with over 90,000 people in attendance, and more than 100 million who watched it via livestream. If you watched the service, you could attest to the gospel being preached with great clarity. In fact, it was proclaimed many times. Additionally, there was this powerful display of the effects of the gospel from Erika Kirk, Charlie’s wife, when she extended the offer of forgiveness to her husband’s killer. No doubt Kirk had a profound effect on society, more specifically generation Z, and much of that effect had to do with his faith being applied to social ethics and politics. From here, with the response of Kirk’s followers growing in even greater commitment to what he stood for, many have begun to say that revival is on the horizon. The question is, how should we think about this claim?  In other words, are we experiencing a revival?  Three thoughts come to mind when considering this question.

First, what is the focus? If the focus of this movement is on conservatism, then it may be a revival of a sort of moral majority, but not of the Lord. Some of you may remember the moral majority from the 1980s.  Led by Jerry Falwell, the effort of the moral majority was to mobilize conservative Christians into a political force in the United States. Now, as Christians, we must understand that our faith in Christ does affect every area of life, including our morality and our politics. At the same time, simply because we have more people arguing against transgenderism and for the 2^nd amendment, doesn’t mean a revival has broken out. We can be thankful for those who speak clearly about the debated social issues of our time, yet we must long for the conversion of souls to Christ, not to a certain politic.

Therefore second, what is revival? According to Timothy Beougher, revival is not determined by “how high you jump, it’s how straight you walk when you land.”  In other words, when people draw near to God, they become more aware of their sin (Is. 6:1-8), God’s word is prioritized (1 Thess. 1:5; 2:13; Neh. 8; 2 Chron. 17:9), there is an increased focus towards the church (Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37), joy in God increases (Ps. 16:11) and people are converted.  Sure, revival may begin with gatherings that are full of people who want to know God in a deeper way, and yes, history records many revivals occurring among young adults and college aged students, but the results may take weeks, months or even years to see what exactly it is that God is doing. Is revival occurring across our nation right now?  I pray that it is. But I believe the results will show, not just through passionate talk about standing up for what you believe, but ultimately in our local churches as those who are awakened long to sit under the preached word of God and live in service to one another. 

Third, what should we do? As the early church father, Tertullian once said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” In other words, persecution, such as we see a picture of in the killing of Charlie Kirk, could very possibly be the seed of some sort of revival. Not because of his political talking points, but because of his faith that directed his beliefs. As Christians longing to see revival though, our response should not be to think that more chapters of Turning Point USA will accomplish this end. Instead, if we want to see revival, we ought to continue to live fervently in obedience to the word of God.  That means, praying, reading the scriptures, committing to a local church, serving our families and loving our neighbors. This is the greatest counter cultural witness that we can provide. Should we be bolder with our faith? Yes! Should we stand up for truth?  Yes! These are all essential as well, but the core of revival is simply living faithful as Christians and calling others to follow Christ with us.

Are we about to experience revival? Maybe? But don’t downplay the regular, consistent, faithfulness of many believers right now in our country. At the same time, lets pray that God would do a work in our nation and in the world as he builds his church and expands his kingdom

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson