RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

One of the most unusual times of my ministry took place in the Siberian city of Norilsk. Only a handful of Christians had survived the severe persecution by the communists. That small band of believers invited me to conduct a citywide evangelistic campaign.
I had never before seen the kind of response I saw there. More than 90 percent 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 to interpret for a businessman from Western Europe. My wife invited both to come to the victory celebration. At the meal the student said, “I’ve grown up an atheist. My parents are atheists. My school and government taught me there is no God. But I want to know the truth. Is there a God?”
I was moved by her sincere hunger for the truth.
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, 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. And 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 toward Christianity?”
Perhaps we are like the church of Ephesus. The Bible says, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far 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 lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:4-5).
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.