'TheCall' Anticipates Massive Revival with 100,000
Decades after the Jesus Movement swept hippies across the nation, tens of thousands of Americans are mobilizing this year for another massive revolution labeled "TheCall."
It has been 40 years since the Summer of Love when some 100,000 young people gathered for free food and free love in San Francisco in a counterculture rebellion against such traditional institutions as marriage and conservative morals. It's also been 40 years since the Jesus Movement produced "Jesus freaks" from those disenchanted with the hippie lifestyle and changed the cultural content to reflect of their newfound Christian faith.
Now, another 100,000 people are expected to rebirth that youth revival this summer at Nashville's Titan Stadium. Nashville was chosen because it is the buckle of the Bible Belt, according to Julia Richardson, one of the event's public relations people.
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"TheCall is a solemn assembly, found in Joel 2. It's when a time of crisis occurs, everyone drops what they are doing, even if it's their wedding, to gather together in unity to pray and fast," explained Richardson.
The Call Nashville on July 7 or "07.07.07" is not a festival, event organizers emphasize. It's a fast. Some will fast only on water, others on fruits and vegetables and others will be giving up media such at television.
The fast, however, is not only a one-day event. The Call encourages participants to be prepared for the anticipated day through 40 days of prayer, repentance and fasting beginning May 28.
Tens of thousands of people from across the country are being called to cry out to God from the morning of July 7 to the late night. Although set to be a massive youth revival, The Call invites leaders and people of all ages and religious backgrounds to attend to bring today's generation and the rest of the nation back to God.
"I believe that in this moment in time, if we respond in repentance, we could release the greatest revival of confession of sin and a cleansing by the blood of Jesus that could draw us back into marital faithfulness with our Bridegroom, God," said Lou Engle, co-founder of The Call.
Engle is scheduled to speak at a Pre-Call event in Alabama Tuesday night to mobilize the state to attend July's revival meeting. TheCall kicked off with "TheCall Re-launch" in January and Pre-Calls have continued since then.
TheCall was first held in Washington, D.C. in 2000, gathering over 400,000 people at the Washington Mall. Tens of thousands more gathered in Call events in other cities and countries, including England and the Philippines, the following years. The massive gathering stopped over the last three years when a "prophecy from a friend of Lou's ... said TheCall will die for three years, and in the time of crisis it will arise again," said Richardson. This year, organizers believe, is the time of crisis.
