James Choung - Longing for Revival: From Holy Discontent to Breakthrough Faith

FROM HOLY DISCONTENT TO
BREAKTHROUGH FAITH

InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
ivpress.com

2020 by James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

While any stories in this book are true, some names and identifying information may have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

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ISBN 978-0-8308-3646-8 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-4591-0 (print)

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DEDICATION

JAMES:
To Jamie
Shine among them like stars in the sky
as you hold firmly to the word of life.

RYAN:
To my children:
Diego, Ramn, and Cellia,
and the next generation of Christians
May God release a mighty movement of his Spirit through you!

L et me (James) start this book with a confession.

I grew up spiritually in a Korean American immigrant church, located in a suburban enclave just north of Seattle. The Christian faith ran deep in my Korean family lines, and my parents brought their love of Jesus with them when they immigrated to America in the 60s. They actually lived so faithfully that I could collect little evidence to build a case of hypocrisy against them.

And they prayerfully sought to pass their legacy of faith on to me.

So at least twice a week, my little brother and I would find ourselves at church. My parents were involved in everything from church leadership to meal preparations to youth ministry to the choir.

In this setting, the word revival was used often. It would be slapped on any event outside a Sunday worship service. Guest speaker? Revival meeting should we stone for the last one?), and it had a way of stirring up the passions and imagination of everyone who was as young as me.

So much expectation and promise seemed to be loaded into that word, as if the mere mention of it would bring a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit.

Frankly, it felt manipulative.

In reaction, my soul was set against that word, so much so that when I accepted my first-ever invitation to be a conference speaker outside of my own ministry context, I had the gall to preach against revival.

I remember being high up in the mountains above Colorado Springs. At 9,124 feet, I had to drink lots of water to stave off the headaches and nausea of altitude sickness. The air was so thin that a flight of stairs easily doubled me over. When I went up to speak, I was surrounded by a forest of Douglas fir and spruce, and they had ironically set up a huge canopy tent in a grassy clearing, like the American revival meetings of old.

On that night a couple of decades ago, I came with a mission: Id dress down revival until it was shown to be an empty, naked promise.

Heres a snippet from that talk:

Ask the Lord what it means to be a part of this forcefully, advancing kingdom. When he tells you what to do, be faithful. This way, you wouldnt ask for revivals anymore. I must say that I get really bummed out when people pray for revival...

We dont have to pray for revival, but we need to be faithful.

The problem is, I think that talk might still be persuasive today.

But now I think I had it all wrong. If you heard me teach that evening, I ask for your forgiveness. I now believe we should long for revival.