"An Appalachian Dawn - Christians Took Their Town Back!"

"AN APPALACHIAN DAWN" - THE REMARKABLE REVIVAL IN KENTUCKY "Manchester, City of Hope," Kentucky Population 2,200by Ben Mutti          Isolated in the heartland of Appalachia, the city of Manchester, Kentucky, appeared to be the unlikeliest place for societal breakthrough to occur. Located in Clay County, any attempt to “change” the dysfunctional way of life was considered futile. With the decline of the coal and salt industry, and their best years seemingly behind them, a 1964 CBS news report gave Manchester the dubious distinction “Depressed City, USA.” Forty years later, Clay County still could not escape from its “backward” stereotype, being listed as the sixth poorest county in the United States.          And that was not all! In 2001, the Drug Enforcement Agency included Manchester in a region listed as the “Painkiller Capital of America.” This notorious nickname did not bode well for a county that actually had more people residing in prison than people residing in the county seat.          While Clay County's outcast image has always been a hard pill for the area to swallow, its outlaw image has always been widely renowned. In a TV exposé by the HistoryChannel on Clay's family feuds, it was reported that four local clans killed more than ten times the number of family members than those killed in the infamous Hatfield and McCoy rivalry. This prevailing mountain man mentality, along with a sectarian church mindset, furthered the notion that Clay County resembled the O.K. Corral. The community was devoid of all hope.          That is until May 2, 2004, when 63 churches and 3,500 people united together as community catalysts to march against drugs. Like troops advancing upon a city, these civic pilgrims for progress joined together under the direction of church leaders who publicly repented before GOD for their lack of civic involvement. Their slogan was, "Get Saved or Get Busted!" Suddenly, a pulse could be felt; hope had been resuscitated. Many felt this climactic prayer event helped break the vice-like grip of drug addiction that had tormented daily life.            The following year, Manchester became the only area in the region where painkiller prescriptions actually decreased. Beyond that, drug arrests would increase by a staggering 300 percent. Where favoritism, fraud, and extortion were once the law of the land, government corruption would soon be uncovered. Within three years, public officials, including the mayor, the city supervisor, the assistant police chief, the 911 Director, the fire chief, the circuit court judge, a handful of city councilmen, county commissioners and county clerks, would all be exposed and jailed for racketeering, distributing drugs, and voter fraud.          As newfound stakeholders in society, churches and citizens partnered together with law enforcement to root out this crime and corruption. In fact, a court watch program was initiated by the churches, and with the help of their Congressman, a local Jesus-based rehabilitation center was completed in 2008.       As a result, a profound optimism had instantly been injected into everyday life. Local drug dealers soon began surrendering their lives to Jesus and getting delivered from drug addiction. This fresh adrenaline also caused high-ranking officials like the new mayor and the sheriff to begin advancing the kingdom cause of Christ in their respective spheres of influence.       According to Sheriff Kevin Johnson, the church partnership with the police was “the best thing to happen to Clay County.” Furthermore, this uncommon collaboration, “Operation: Unite,” has become the model for the entire state.          Consequently, in 2007, the city council voted to change the name of the city to “Manchester: City of Hope.” As a result, this obscure community has become a regional influence, receiving desperate calls from 49 different states, and five foreign nations, all soliciting Clay Countians for guidance in their battle against drugs.           Not only are students now being drug tested in school, Bible elective courses are also being offered in high school. Meanwhile, Clay County was chosen as having the model-reading program for children in the state in 2008, significant for a region traditionally plagued with high illiteracy rates.          Remarkably, in the Fall of 2009, with bated - breath, the city announced that a recycling company would be coming to Manchester, bringing a breathtaking 1,400 new jobs; this despite the rest of the nation stumbling through a global recession.          Last, but not least, located near the Kingdom Come National Park, Clay County now possesses one of the largest Rocky Mountain Elk populations in the country; and with turkey, bear, and deer populations making a comeback, a new campground and new bike trail accent a tourist industry on the upswing. Manchester city water was even chosen in 2008 as having the best tasting water in a statewide competition. In fact, the local water treatment plant is now selling “Hope Water” as a commercial product.          With this unusual avalanche of events, there is no question that Manchester’s cup of blessing is running over. What seemed like a mountain that was insurmountable is now becoming possible with GOD. Ironically, a community once considered "behind the times" has now become a compelling story for our times.

  

"REVIVAL FALLS IN KENTUCKY WHEN PASTORS REPENT!"

"REVIVAL FALLS IN KENTUCKY WHEN PASTORS REPENT!"

God showed up when the LEADERS repented for their programs and structures - and God did some amazing work cleaning up the drug problem. On that issue a great fire started burning! But God sent Doug Perry to Manchester, Kentucky a year or so later to urge them to not just repent for the drug problem, but repent for their faction, division, denominationalism within the Body of Christ and THEN see how much God showed up!

Mighty Revival Account: Asbury College 1970

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"Mighty Revival Account: Asbury College 1970"
It was a typical morning chapel service at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky in 1970.  The service followed the normal pattern until God stepped down!  This video gives record of the historic events of that morning.  Revival had come to Asbury College and before it was over, it swept the nation and the world!

Revival Has Broken out in Manchester, Kentucky - Incredible!!

The Coming Great Awakening in Appalachia

"The Coming Great Awakening in Appalachia"
 

by Michael Edds

For some time the Lord has been saying to me that the Holy Spirit is "hovering and brooding" over the Appalachian Mountains. As you recall from Genesis, the Spirit of the Lord hovered and brooded over the face of the deep. This was just before He said, "Let there be light." He spoke light and life into existence. As a mother hen broods over her eggs, she imparts something of herself to them....her body heat. This causes the eggs to grow and develop the embryo within. Finally, the little chicken is born.

One night, I was reading the book, Azusa Street by Frank Bartleman. He was one of the great intercessors before and a leader during the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in California in the early 1900s which led to a world wide revival. On November 16, 1905, he wrote, "The Spirit is brooding over our land again as at Creation's dawn, and the decree of God goes forth: "Let there be light!" (Genesis 1:3.) Brother, sister, if we all believed God, can you realize what would happen? Many of us here are living for nothing else. A volume of believing prayer is ascending to the throne night and day. Los Angeles, Southern California, and the whole continent shall surely find itself before long in the throes of a mighty revival, by the Spirit and power of God."

As you know, a mighty world wide revival followed this prophetic word. The same Holy Spirit is brooding and hovering once again. It is not strange that He is hovering and brooding over the Appalachian Mountains. Divine impartation is causing the embryo of the next Great Awakening to grow and develop here.

This vast mountainous region, which seems to be filled with so much spiritual darkness and deadness today, was once the womb of one of the greatest moves of God. The Second Great Awakening that swept much of the South was birthed at a Presbyterian Communion service at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. Rev. Barton Stone had no idea what God was about to do during that service. 10% of the population of Kentucky plus the Governor came! This revival swept the Appalachians and the South. Thieves, prostitutes and drunkards became mighty men and women of God. Denominational barriers vanished. Slaves were set free. Divine Light filled the spiritually darkened valleys, hollows and hills. What we call the "Bible Belt" of the South today is nothing more that the residue of that incredible move of God. It changed our very culture.

Holy feet have trod our soil. The great Methodist Circuit rider, Francis Asbury traveled 8,000 miles a year holding immense camp meetings and services through out the Appalachian wilderness. The great evangelist Amanda Berry Smith, former slave and one of the first African American female evangelist, preached and sang in tremendous camp meetings in this region.

Many of our towns and cities were established by born - again believers. The city of Harrisonburg, Virginia was founded by the Harrison family which was led to the Lord by Francis Asbury. Gospel Hill in Staunton, Virginia was the location of a great prayer meeting that met in a blacksmith's barn. Boehm's Chapel is Lancaster, Pennsylvania was the focal point of great revivals that swept all the way to Baltimore, Maryland.

Numerous historic camp meetings sites dot the landscape of Greenbrier and Monroe Counties in West Virginia. A visit to the US Post Office in Lewisburg, West Virginia will reveal a painting on the wall. It depicts a great camp meeting from the 1800's that took place on a hill near this picturesque village. Three thousand Appalachian frontiersmen camped here for days while the Glory of God rained down. The educational system of that town was started 200 years ago by a man of God, John McElhenney, who often preached in these camp meetings among the groves.

There are innumerable historic spiritual wells all around us in these mountains. The foundation stones laid for civilization throughout Appalachia were laid by men and women of God. God is not finished with the Appalachian people. Divine destiny calls them again today.

The old wells have been stopped up for many years. The spiritual Canaanites have controlled the holy wells from which once flowed the power and presence of the living God. God is raising up a generation of "Isaacs" to take back and reopen these old wells of revival.

A writer once wrote, "The apostasy of the early church came as a result of a greater desire to see the spread of its power and rule than to see new natures given to it individual members. The moment we covet a large following and rejoice in the crowd that is attracted by our presentation of what we consider truth, and have not a greater desire to see the natures of individuals changed according to the divine plan, we start to travel the same road of apostasy..."

The great visitations of God in the Appalachia's historic past caused denominational lines to vanish. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and others joined hands as brothers and sisters in Christ. Their passion was to be filled with the presence of Christ and to see the lost saved. The color and gender lines also vanished.

As Frank Bartleman once wrote, "God wants a revival company, a channel through whom He can evangelize the world, blessing all people and believers. He could naturally not accomplish this with a sectarian party. That spirit has been the curse and death of every revival body sooner or later....to formulate a separate body is but to advertise our failure as a people of God. It proves to the world that we cannot get along together, rather than causing them to believe in our salvation..."That they may all be one; ...that the world may believe" (John 17:21)

God does not need another denomination or organization to be established. The church is an organism, not a human organization. That was one of the major reasons that the historic wells of revival stopped flowing. Man took control out of the hands of God. WE DO NOT NEED MORE PROGRAMS, MORE COMMITTEES, MORE DENOMINATIONS, MORE STRATEGIES OR PLANS. WE MUST RETURN TO THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS! We must return to the source of the "old wells"......that is God.

The Holy Spirit is hovering and brooding once again. HE hovers over Appalachia. Appalachians have been labeled as being ignorant, out of the main stream, archaic and out of touch with the rest of society. We have been labeled as bare foot, uneducated, inbred hillbillies. However, the great moves of God usually come in the most humble and forgotten of places. The Great Revival in Wales was among the coal miners, Christ was not born in a palace but in a stable, Cane Ridge in Kentucky was a frontier wilderness, Azusa Street Mission was in the poor part of town. In the middle of Wittenberg stood an ancient wooden chapel, thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, whose walls, propped up on all sides, were falling into ruin. An old pulpit made of planks, and three feet high, received the preacher. It was in this humble place that the preaching of the Reformation began. It was God's Will that That which was to restore His glory should have the humblest of surroundings.

God's call to the "Isaacs" of Appalachia today is to redig the old wells.....the wells of salvation, holiness and righteousness. God is calling His people to repent of their wicked ways and turn to Him. He is calling the intercessors to pray and intercede as never before. He is calling us to lay aside our denominational differences, our plans and programs. He is calling us to Himself!

NEWS FLASH!!!!

 Since this prophecy was written in 2001, revival has broken out in Appalachia in Manchester, Kentucky!!  The test for all prophecy is #1.  Is is scriptural?  and #2.  Does it come to pass?  This prophetic word is being fulfilled before our eyes!!

                                  NEWS FLASH #2

Revival has broken out in Rainelle (Greenbrier County) West Virginia.  Over 80 youth have been converted in two weeks.  Revival has swept into the area schools and is spreading.  The meetings are continuing at the Church of God on Greenbrier Street in Rainelle!!!

                                NEWS FLASH #3

The fires of revival are burning in North Carolina.  Over 100 youth have been converted in one town!!!  God has come down!!

NEWS FLASH #4
 

Revival has swept into two South Carolina high schools in March 2011.   Almost all of the 1500 students in one school made a profession of faith!  The Awakening is spreading to other communities!!