Arevival meeting is a series ofChristianreligious services held to inspire active members of achurch body to gain newconverts and to call sinners to repent. Those who lead revival services are known asrevivalists (or evangelists). Nineteenth-centuryBaptist preacherCharles Spurgeon said, "Many blessings may come to the unconverted in consequence of a revival among Christians, but the revival itself has to do only with those who already possess spiritual life."[1] These meetings are usually conducted by churches or missionary organizations throughout the world. Notable historic revival meetings were conducted in theUnited States by evangelistBilly Sunday[2] and inWales by evangelistEvan Roberts.[3] Revival services occur in local churches,brush arbor revivals,tent revivals, andcamp meetings.[4]
.jpg)
A revival meeting usually consists of several consecutive nights of services conducted at the same time and location, most often the building belonging to the sponsoring congregation but sometimes a rented assembly hall, for more adequate space, to provide a setting that is more comfortable for non-Christians, or to reach a community where there are no churches.Tents were very frequently employed in this effort in the recent past, and occasionally still are, but less so due to the difficulties in heating and cooling them and otherwise making them comfortable, an increasing consideration with modern audiences.[citation needed]
Ben M. Bogard, from 1909 to 1914, conducted revivals full-time in seven southern states. In 1924, he founded theAmerican Baptist Association (ABA), theMissionary Baptist denomination, still based inTexarkana, Texas. ABA churches have traditionally held revivals usually once or twice a year.[5]
The length of such meetings varies. Until the last quarter-century they were frequently a week or more in duration, especially in theSouthern United States.[6][verification needed] Currently they may be held for three or four days. EvangelistBilly Graham planneda week-long crusade inNew York City, which ultimately extended from May 15 to September 1, 1957. More than two million people went to New York'sMadison Square Garden to hear him preach.[7]
Most groups holding revival meetings tend to be of aconservative orfundamentalist nature, although some are still held bymainline groups, which formerly conducted them with a far greater frequency. Similar events may be referred to as "crusades", most especially those formerly held by Billy Graham andOral Roberts.
Along withcamp meetings, the holding of revival services is an integral part of theMethodist tradition, in which they serve to offer individuals theNew Birth (first work of grace) andentire sanctification (second work of grace), along with callingbacksliders to repentance.[8] Revival services are often held for a week at least once a year in Methodist churches.[9]
Conservative Mennonites continue to hold and promote protracted revival meetings of usually seven or eight days duration at least once per year in a given congregation. The visiting evangelist is chosen from among their own or related congregations.
Many revivals are conducted by nondenominational community churches, most of which are conservative intheology.
In her bookGod Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music, historian Leah Payne draws a connection between 19th and 20th-century revivals and the creation and culture ofcontemporary Christian music in the latter 20th century, with music playing a key part in revivals. Payne writes that revival meetings were "in many ways, the rock concerts of the early twentieth century."[10]James D. Vaughn and his publishing company sold a number of songbooks at revival events, helping to shape a sort of celebrity culture. Multiple Protestant denominations began toset their theological differences aside and found shared commonality as consumers of revival songbooks. Revival music also featured similar themes to later contemporary Christian music, including a focus on Christian youth as the nation's future;temperance; longing for conceptions of traditional religious, patriotic, and cultural beliefs; andrejection of evolution (brought into the public consciousness through the well-knownScopes trial).[10]
This movement has been portrayed by directorRichard Brooks in his1960 filmElmer Gantry withBurt Lancaster (who received theAcademy Award for this film) andJean Simmons, adapted fromSinclair Lewis'eponymous novel.
TheStephen King novel,Revival, features a major character who is a revival meeting faith healer.
There is a revival scene in the 1997 filmThe Apostle, starringRobert Duvall. Duvall's portrayal of an evangelical minister earned him anAcademy Award for Best Actor nomination.
Cormac McCarthy's novelBlood Meridian begins with a scene set at a revival meeting.
The Academy Award-winning documentaryMarjoe reviews the career of child-evangelistMarjoe Gortner, giving a behind-the-scenes look at revivals he promoted as an adult.
Neil Diamond'sBrother Love's Traveling Salvation Show depicts a revival meeting.
The music video forOneRepublic's "Counting Stars" depicts a Christian revival meeting.
Laura Ingalls Wilder'sLittle Town on the Prairie depicts a week of revival meetings at theCongregational church inDe Smet, South Dakota.
Remembrances of revival-meetings attended as a youth were the inspiration for the second movement ofCharles Ives'Orchestral Set No. 2,The Rockstrewn Hills Join in the People's Outdoor Meeting.[11]
