By Rick Allen, MedSend CEO
My wife and I are blessed to have Sunday family dinners with two of our four children and grandchildren who live nearby. It was important to us to have a family dinner as our children were growing up, to instill the value of that time together. Today, we gather on Sundays, and one of our conversation points is to share a Rose (a blessing) and a Thorn (a challenge) from the previous week. These conversations bring out all kinds of things, but it’s no surprise that the Rose is often related to the people around the table—the ways we blessed or supported one another.
Truth: A Foundation for Revival in an Uncertain World
We are living in a time of cultural isolation. We are a lonely people. It is a good practice to acknowledge the people in our lives as having value and importance. I believe that if God is to bring revival to our land, two foundations of the Christian faith will play a commanding role: truth and community.
Our faith stands on truths that have withstood critics and evaluators for thousands of years. These truths reveal the heart of man and guide us toward the blessings of nations, communities, churches, and families. We stand upon a rock of spectacular strength; one whose truths withstand the test of time.
In the next few years, we are going to experience a transformation in our daily lives like never before. The introduction of AI on a wide scale will be highly disruptive. I am one who seeks the benefits of technology and believes AI will be beneficial to our world and to individuals on a scale we cannot imagine today. However, one of its downsides will be that we will no longer be able to trust what we read, see, or hear. It is hard to comprehend how current and future generations will respond to this level of mistrust. But there is an antidote: the Christian Bible. It may sound simple, but that is its beauty. It’s handed down from generation to generation as a truth designed to bless and not destroy. It is a blessing for the ages—past, present, and future. I believe it will withstand the confusion that will descend upon us, as it has done through the centuries.
Community: Rediscovering Authentic Relationships in a Divided Culture
A second foundation of our faith is community. As Christ-followers we are called into community to support one another and to bless the nations. Despite this calling, we have become divided and isolated. We have been managed and admonished into being a people who are not authentic. Our faith offers an alternative to this current division and isolation. We are guided and instructed by our faith’s founder to love, serve, and sacrifice. This builds community. I regret having participated in an American church that has lost sight of our Christ-centered calling. My generation was tagged the “Me Generation” in the 1960s. As we lost sight of this calling, the American church—led by the Boomer generation—has failed both the generation that came before us and those following us.
If God is to call a revival, He will likely call a generation into a community-based model, not one focused on the rights and demands of the individual. This is already happening across the world. The Christian faith is rapidly spreading in regions that understand the importance and accountability of community.
We are isolated from our Creator, the world He created, and one another. We go from the comforts of our outlandishly large homes into our creature-comfortable automobiles, to our temperature-controlled workplaces, all without knowing or noticing the God of the universe. Our relationships at church, at work, in our communities, and increasingly in our families, are shallow, without meaning or authenticity. My generation sold out our country, communities, churches, and families for material comforts and wealth. In return, we received disillusionment, brokenness, and sorrow. We have broken the back of our heritage and disregarded our blessings. We are paying the price through the brokenness of our children and our churches.
A Hope for Revival: The Role of the Next Generation
I am hopeful that our Lord will call this nation to revival. It is not likely to come through the Pharisees of the Me Generation but through a young and vibrant generation that understands the value of community. A generation disillusioned by its elders, forced into isolation by a pandemic, and disappointed in Christian religion and the way it has been modeled. The founder of the Christian faith said His followers would be known by their love. We need to love better. We need to watch for movements of the Holy Spirit in this generation. It is not likely to look like the church you grew up in.
I joined a group of praying men in Connecticut over 20 years ago to call out to God for revival. They are still meeting and praying. I am still praying that prayer and dreaming of how it will impact my grandchildren and their children’s children.
My family recently introduced the Bud into the Rose and Thorn conversation. A Bud is something in the future that you are excited about and praying for—a hope for the future. Sometimes it is small, and other times it is God-sized. I encourage my family to dream big dreams of what could be but isn’t. Give God a place in your hope for the future. He will show up and surprise you.
I offer a prayer of blessing and discernment as we look ahead to what the Holy Spirit is doing among us.
Happy New Year, 2025.
