George Barna,

specialist on church polling and growth, has concluded a survey of religious

fervor three months after Sept. 11. It appears that attendance, which

nationwide increased by perhaps 25 percent immediately after the 9/11

attack, is back at normal levels.

Many in the

faith community were praying and hoping that 9/11 would be the catalyst

for revival in America. Why, after 9/11, we saw spontaneous prayer meetings

on the streets of New York City where previously the police wouldn't permit

such activities. We saw mighty U.S. Senators and Representatives huddled

in prayer.

Where are we

now? Church attendance down to levels before 9/11. Senators and Representatives

in political huddles to block the President's programs and nominees. The

faith factor has fizzled.

I've said in

this column not too many weeks ago that until tragedy and trauma touch

every home in America, we will be un-disturbed. We are an isolated, self-absorbed

people. Until it touches me and my four, it could have as well as happened

in Timbuktu.

Then, how on

earth do we experience a new wave of spirituality in America? How can

we have revival? Since great evangelism and great loss can't generate

a revival, what will?

Revival with

its attendant new spirituality will only come when God's people and that

means the church houses across America, humble themselves, pray, seek

God's face, and turn from their wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Humbling, praying,

seeking the face of God, and turning from wicked ways can all take place

without a single terrorist attack, without a single student being shot

down on a school campus, and without tragedy touching your family.

God's people

seem to be more resistant to revival than the devil's gang. Seriously.

The Gospel, with its appeal to repentance and faith, gets a better hearing

in the gang-infested, drug-infested neighborhoods of East Los Angeles

than it does in the proper worship services in Fayette County.

The unbent

knee fortifies revival resistance. To expect some Christians in Fayette

and Clayton Counties and I am sure even further to kneel and pray, confessing

sins, would be much like asking a man to slap his mother. That much resistance.

Rest assured

the word has already been spoken: that one day, every knee will bow and

every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. But to get Christians

to do it now, why, what would others think: that I had become a Holy Roller.

God forbid!

The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor

of River's Edge

Community Church in Fayetteville.

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