Is it possible that genuine spiritual renewal may be around the corner? Indeed, may it not have already started? Anyone familiar with recent happenings must sense that God is at work in a special way among our young people. The Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship Urbana missionary conference attracted 12,000 visitors and delegates. Campus Crusade for Christ gathered thousands in six cities in North America over the holidays, and Crusaders descended in large numbers on the Pasadena Rose Parade and the Cotton Bowl football game. The Asbury revival, now a year old, spread to many college campuses over America, and the spiritual tone of many Christian institutions is higher than it has been for some years. The “Jesus people” phenomenon is blossoming mostly without the aid of any institution.
What is especially striking about our young people who get turned on by Christ (even though there may sometimes be zeal without knowledge) is their desire to share their experience of Christ with others and the fearlessness with which they do it. They remind me of Dwight L. Moody, whose straightforward, uninhibited personal witness was perhaps even more effective percentage-wise than his large evangelistic campaigns.
Billy Graham has campaigns scheduled for Chicago, Irving, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth), and Oakland, California, later this year. I hope that somehow our turned-on young Christians can be geared into these evangelistic thrusts so that the combined advantage of mass witness and individual witness can be achieved. If thousands of Christian young people were to hit the streets of these cities, they might well usher in another great awakening.
