How Lou Engle Will Honor a Prophetic Legacy of Revival
The 1906 Azusa Street Revival, which mirrored the reality of the formation of the church in Acts 2, was so special for three reasons:
1. There was a multi-ethnic gathering of unity in Christ (Acts 2:1-11).
2. The miraculous, attesting ministry of the Holy Spirit was enjoyed in a unique way (Acts 2:2-4).
3. There was a clear presentation of the gospel leading many to salvation (Acts 2:37-41).
This outpouring of heaven descended on the poor districts of Los Angeles during an incredibly dangerous, volatile and prejudiced period of American history, yet God used an African-American named William Seymour to launch this modern Acts 2 movement. Blacks, whites, Asians and Hispanics came together in unity and prayer. It came to be said, “The color line was washing away” at Azusa. Sadly, by 1916, the original Azusa Street Revival had officially ended. Segregation once again fractured the unity of the church, dividing God’s children along the very same color lines previously erased by the Holy Spirit. Even so, the flames of Azusa led to various renewal movements that spread like wildfire across the U.S. and abroad. Over the last 110 years, these movements have helped to produce more salvations than the previous 19 centuries combined.
In 1913, both William Seymour and Maria Woodworth-Etter separately proclaimed that in 100 years, the Holy Spirit would be poured out again, even stronger this time. Lou is claiming that 100-year promise to sweep over America. Prayer, love and unity remain the Acts 2 template for breakthrough. On April 9, 2016, Lou and TheCall will hold a great multi-ethnic, multi-denominational, multi-generational assembly at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to once again bring revival to America. TheCall is about exalting the Lord and Him alone.
TheCall
In 1999, a woman approached Lou and asked if he had ever considered putting young people on the National Mall like Promise Keepers did in 1997 with men. Amazed at the question, Lou replied that two years prior he had publicly proclaimed that the youth of America would gather together at the National Mall, and it would be a sign from God that America was turning back to Him. The woman promptly wrote a check for $100,000, initiating what would eventually result in the TheCall D.C. On Sept. 2, 2000, an estimated 400,000 young people joined together for 12 hours to cry out to God. It launched the movement of TheCall, which has been going now for 16 years.
“I always knew that TheCall was some kind of John-the-Baptist-type movement because it was about fasting and prayer and Nazarites and turning America back to God,” shares Lou. Several years ago, Lou began to ask the question, “Has TheCall failed because we have not seen America turn back to God?” Lou felt the Lord say, “If it truly is a John-the-Baptist-type movement, you can bet there is a Jesus movement coming. It is another massive baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
As Lou and TheCall began to pray that stadiums would be filled, Lou was reminded of a friend’s dream in which his friend received five sets of five plane tickets. In the dream, they could only fly United, which they knew meant the church must unite … only a united church can heal a divided nation. In his friend’s dream, the friend said he was concerned about missing the expiration date on the tickets, which was 1,080 days away. His friend got up and looked up 1,080 days from his dream and it was April 9, 2016—the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival.
From that moment on, Lou said, “We know God has a date with His church.”
Lou also received an email from a lady who shared a dream about how she had seen a field that was both a football field and a baseball field combined. She woke up and Googled to see if there were any stadiums that were both used for the Super Bowl and the World Series. There was only one—the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. She told Lou she thought he was supposed to do Azusa Now 2016 at that stadium. Lou was convinced in his heart that God wanted to use the Los Angeles Memorial Stadium, but he just didn’t have faith to raise the kind of money that it would cost to rent the field.
One day, he was reading Matthew 13 and it says, “When a man finds a treasure he hides it in a field and sells all that he has to buy that field with joy.”
Lou says, “For me, my calling has been revival for 40 years … I would rather get revival than anything else except my own kids loving Jesus.” He sensed the Lord say, “Sell your house to buy the field for the treasure of the unity of the body of Christ for revival.”
Lou does not want to draw attention to what he is doing, but he wants revival. He says, “I believe in the next year we will begin to see the greatest awakening America has ever seen.”
