I've never seen the kind of response that I saw there. More than 90% of the people in the stadium responded, indicating a desire to follow Christ. I was overwhelmed. We decided to have a victory celebration in the hotel where we were staying. The entire team met in a special room for a final meal and a time of sharing.

Meanwhile my wife had been sharing Christ with a student from Moscow. She had grown up atheist but was very interested in knowing the truth about Christianity. She was in the city interpreting for a businessman from Western Europe. My wife invited both of them to come to the victory celebration that last day. At the meal the student said, "I've grown up an atheist. My parents are atheists. My school and government taught me that there is no God. But I want to know the truth. Is there a God?"

Her sincere hunger for the truth was moving. About that time, the businessman from Western Europe spoke up. He came from a nation with a rich heritage of Christianity, Reformation and Revival. "I am an atheist," he exclaimed. "I don't believe in God. I believe that Jesus was a homosexual. Furthermore, if there is a God, and I reject Him then He still couldn't reject me when I die." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

There sat a girl whose government had tried to brainwash her with atheism, and yet she was hungry to know the truth of the gospel. On the other, hand there sat a businessman from a nation with a wonderful Biblical heritage, and his heart was full of blasphemy. I asked myself, "How did this happen? How did a nation that has been referred to as an evil empire become so open to the gospel? And how did the people in Western Europe and North America become so antagonistic towards Christianity?" Perhaps we are like the church of Ephesus. The Bible says, "I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place."

After meditating on that passage of Scripture, I came to this conclusion. Revival in the West is not a luxury. It's an absolute necessity.