Having studied revivals and moves of God for nearly forty years, I am yet to find an example of a church or work that could sustain a true revival for more than a few years, and usually two is the limit. Most of the time, the church that hosted the revival, or the region that did, was left in worse condition than before the revival. Why?

Before trying to answer this, let me first say that even though a true revival can be very costly to those who host it, they are still worth it for the good that they do. Even so, for the host to be so devastated by a revival is not the best; rather, it is possible for them to be blessed and benefit from them.

Since we see in part and know in part, there may be more to the answer of this question than I will present. My studies and experience have led me to believe the main reason for this is the lack of understanding the phases of church life and development we have been studying, and the failure to make the necessary transitions between them.

To know these principles and then to have the fortitude and resolve to implement them are two different things. It is much easier to be a Monday morning, easy chair quarterback than to be in the game. To have the wisdom and leadership to navigate through one of these transitions will almost certainly require going through one of the most disappointing and discouraging things a leader can go through—losing many people.

It is not likely that a transition between any of these phases can be done without losing many people, and therefore much support. There will be a pruning with each transition, and probably a very severe one. Not many will have the spiritual vision or understanding to see this as a positive thing—that this pruning is required so that the tree can bear even more fruit later. Now let's look at a few things that may help our vision for this.

First, the greatest leader who ever walked the earth, Jesus, went through this same kind of pruning when He made transitions between phases in His ministry. We see this dramatically demonstrated in John 6. Great multitudes were following Him because of the signs they saw. Others followed Him because of God's provision—He fed them by multiplying the bread and fish. When He told the crowds that He was the Bread from heaven and unless they ate His flesh and drank His blood, they could have not part in Him, it says that not only the crowds departed, but many of His disciples departed as well (see verse 66). The crowds followed Him for what He could give them, but when it came down to who would follow Him for Himself, there were not many left.

This chapter represents a significant transition in the ministry of Jesus. Until then, He did most of His works and His teachings for the multitudes. After this, His focus was more on His disciples than on the multitudes. Before this transition, He did great miracles so that the people could believe. After this He did miracles for those who believed.

Of course, after this transition even greater multitudes would follow Him again. Let us remain on course; every pruning will ultimately result in more fruit. However, we should also consider this—the Lord never entrusted Himself to the multitudes. Why? That same multitude who cried, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" (see Mark 11:9), was just five days later crying "Crucify Him!" A leader is foolish if the mindset of the many is trusted—it can be changed quickly, easily, and profoundly. A true leader has to lead out of conviction and resolve to stay the course, regardless of what others think or do, or how many will follow them.   

 
One thing that has helped me to embrace seeing people leave our MorningStar churches is to see them as seeds that we are sowing throughout the body of Christ, who will then go and bear more fruit from what they have received from us. We say often that most of the people who come to us "come to pass," or they come to stay for a while, get what they need, and then pass on to be a blessing to others. In this way, we have been able to help populate many other congregations with some outstanding people.

This would not be possible to do without keeping a vision for the whole body of Christ, while keeping one for what we are called to do as well. Any part of the body that grows without regard for the rest of the body is a cancer. We don't want to be a cancer to the body, but a blessing to it—all of it. We resolved in the beginning to want our fruit in heaven and not care what it looks like here. These are not my people, and I never want to be possessive of them. They are the Lord's and He must be able to place them in His body where it pleases Him, not me.

Another thing we do is to shut down all of our meetings and services every July and tell our people to visit other churches in order to keep a vision for the whole body in our region. We also tell them that if they find a place where they fit better than with us, stay. We bless them to do this. This has helped them to be able to freely leave when they need to, and it has helped us to keep our attention and faith in the Lord, not in people. Every August we come into the first meetings not knowing if any people will be coming back. It does stretch our faith every year. However, every year to date, more have come back than we sent out, and sometimes many more. This is really not our goal, but it happens.

You would also think that this would help us to gain the trust of other local congregations, sending our people to them, and even telling them to take their tithes with them to bless other congregations, but to date the reverse has been true. This has only made them even more suspicious of us, especially those who are very possessive of their people, as they simply cannot comprehend why we would do this.

However, we are not doing this to gain the trust of local congregations, we are doing it out of obedience, and to bless those congregations whether they acknowledge it or not. If we really have a kingdom vision, we will measure our success as a church by the health of the other local congregations in our area. Therefore, we are happy to send them some of our best people every year. We don't look for rewards or acknowledgment from them, but from the Lord.

Possibly the biggest tangible benefit we have received is the incredible refreshing that comes from it and the unquestionable spiritual advance we have enjoyed every fall. We can tell in June that people need a break from meetings, but in August when they come back, we can tell they really missed the meetings, and there is a new zeal in them and us for just getting together.

This is one thing that we do which we believe was a strategy the Lord gave us, but I am not recommending for others to do this. I now know of a few others who heard what we were doing, tried it, and they, too, have realized a great benefit from it. However, I consider that to be between them and the Lord.

We do this in July because it is the seventh month, and there is something to observing the Lord's Sabbaths. We do not do this to observe the law, and if this becomes just another law, we know it will be counterproductive. We do it out of obedience and it works for us. That's the limit of what I would like to say about this, but I do think the Lord can give us practical things to do that will keep our trust and attention on Him instead of the people, which is crucial if we are to leaders appointed by the Lord and led by Him.   

We might also think that such a strategy as this would greatly weaken our own local churches, but the reverse has been true. Our core people are actually the strongest I have ever seen in a local congregation, and they keep getting stronger. Our core leadership team also has more longevity together than any other such team I know of. We have gone through a number of transitions now with a number of our congregations, and they have been as easy and smooth as I could imagine. I have watched them go through severe pruning without nearly the turbulence we were expecting, and the increased fruitfulness seemingly without the pride that often comes, which sidetracks a work and spoils the fruit.

Of course, maybe my sharing this is a form of pride. I hope not, but we do now have enough longevity to see that if something is working, and if it can help others, I want to share it. I think one thing that will help every church, movement, denomination, ministry, or mission, is to not build on people, but to build on the Lord. Also, do not use the people to build your ministry, but use your ministry to build the people.