An Observation Today's Pastors Would Do Well To Hear

“A final general observation arising out of this period (The Second Great Awakening) has to do with the manner in which the unusual sense of the presence of God was recognized in the churches which experienced these revivals. It was not because men saw weeping multitudes, unrestrained noise and high excitement that they believed a revival had begun. On the contrary, such things — which are sometimes supposed to be of the essence of revival — were almost entirely absent in the Northeast during the greater part of the Second Great Awakening. . . . The presence of God and the measure of his working was not judged by such things but rather by the deep impression made on people by ‘the power of divine truth.’ Far from aiming at stirring excitement, the preachers sought to avoid it. ‘It was their object, indeed, to make deep impressions on the hearts of sinners,” observed Porter, “but to do this only be means of truth. Accordingly, the whole tendency of things was to produce exercises of the calm, solemn, pungent kind rather than passionate and clamorous excitement.’”

- Ian Murray, Revival and Revivalism, 137-138

There are many good pastors today, I have observed, who, while certainly aiming to “make deep impressions on the hearts of sinners” “by means of truth,” also find it necessary to “motivate” or “encourage” their people to have a “zeal” or “passion” for the truth.¹

And then they wish their people would have a visible “excitement” for God, just like one might have at a sporting event.

Perhaps instead we should take note of the past, lest we fall into the grave errors that folllowed the era of the Second Great Awakening.

© 2009, Scott Aniol. All rights reserved.

Scott Aniol

Scott Aniol holds a bachelor's degree in church music from Bob Jones University (Greenville, SC), a master's degree in musicology from Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL), and has studied theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN) and Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained to to the gospel ministry by First Baptist Church (Rockford, IL) in April of 2004. As the executive director of Religious Affections Ministries, Scott speaks on the subjects of music and worship at various churches and conferences. His most recent speaking engagements include the Preserving the Truth Conference, Central Seminary’s Foundations Conference, International Baptist College, and Bob Jones Seminary. Click here to read and/or listen to important talks from Scott Aniol. Curriculum vitae

Endnotes:

1. See, for instance, Bob Kauflin’s understanding of what a worship leader should be doing. [↩]

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