1998-1999 Update to "Floods Upon the Dry Ground"

by Charles P. Schmitt

     Four things stand out as we consider 1998-1999: the ongoing growth of the ranks of Spirit-filled believers; the amazing advance of the Church in world-wide missions; the continuing revival moves of the Holy Spirit; and the potential significance of the Y2K issue.

Growth Among Spirit-Filled Believers

     Dr. Ronald Cottle, Founder and President of Christian Life School of Theology and Beacon College in Columbus, Georgia shared the following statistics in a message given at CFNI in Dallas, Texas: "Research data indicates that by the year 2000, the global Church will be 51 percent Spirit-filled [approximately one-half billion people!]. Half of these (or 25% of all Christians) will be Pentecostal-Spirit-filled people who trace their roots back to Azusa Street. The other half of Spirit-filled believers (another 25% of all Christians) include Charismatics-Spirit-filled people whose roots go back to the renewal of the 60s and 70s, and also Spirit-filled people who are still in their denominations -Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, etc. Concerning the other 50% of the Church, half of these will be Evangelicals - Southern Baptist, Church of Christ, and many others who love the Lord but don't necessarily relate to 'the baptism in the Holy Spirit' [in the way that Pentecostals and Charismatics do]. The remainder of Christians will be from liberal churches -those to whom Church is not very important. Notice that three out of four will take their faith seriously.

     "It is fascinating to watch Church growth. Among Evangelicals there is only one-percent growth. From the liberal churches, people are leaving at the rate of 17 percent a year. All the growth is taking place among the Spirit-filled churches. If this trend continued for a decade, the whole Church would be baptized in the Holy Spirit!"

The Amazing Advance in World-Wide Missions

     "For the first time in history, Church growth is three times the world's population growth!" (Dr. Ronald Cottle reports).

     In a Spring 1999 article, YWAM founder Loren Cunningham outlines the amazing advance in world-wide missions: "As I constantly travel the nations of the earth, I have watched the growth of Christianity become the event of the century, while the media of the world has virtually ignored it. Look at these remarkable growth patterns:

• Africa 1900: 3% claim Christianity. Today over 50% of all Africans claim to be Christians!
• Latin America 1900: the evangelical revival begins with 50,000. Today, close to 100 million claim to be dedicated followers of Christ!
• Today in India, 103 million claim to be Christians, with a new church born every seven minutes!
• In China, 1,250 are coming to Christ every hour (30,000 daily)!
• South Korea has 7,000 churches in Seoul alone (there were practically no churches in Korea when the century began)!
• In Eastern Europe, millions have come to know Christ personally since the fall of the Berlin Wall!

The Continuing Revival Moves of the Holy Spirit

     Refreshings, renewal and evidences of revival continue around the world, especially in Third World nations. Loren Cunningham sizes up the West in these words -"And what about Western Europe and North America? There have been miraculous visitations, refreshment, even stirrings, but no sweeping revival across the nations. Not yet. How will revival come? Only God knows the exact way it will happen. ."

     In the West, however, the Toronto Blessing does continue to flow out to bless millions around the world. Refreshing does continue in various cities across the United States (Hampton, Baltimore, Pasadena, Smithton, etc.) The Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida continues to be a fountainhead of revival and refreshing, especially running through the arteries of the Assemblies of God denomination. Under the leadership of General Superintendent, Thomas E. Trask, many pastors and churches within the Assemblies of God (it is estimated about 50%) are seeking God in earnest for revival. This continues to be one of the most encouraging happenings at the end of this Twentieth Century -that so many in a historic denomination should be pressing into a fresh move of the Holy Spirit.

The Potential Significance of the Y2K Issue

     The Y2K computer glitch has cast a long shadow on 1998-1999. Opinions remain sharply divided as to its significance. Some see in the Y2K issue the eventual unraveling of the current social, economic and political order as we have known it. Others see in it only minor disruption easily overcome. Yet others see in the potential severity of Y2K, a sign that on the backdrop of our faltering and failing worldwide technology there will come a worldwide outpouring of the Holy Spirit as desperate and devastated people seek the face of God.

     Thus 1998-1999, in these four important ways, is setting the stage for the year 2000: the dawn of a brand new millennium in which the Lord will continue to pour "floods upon the dry ground."

Some of those who passed into the Presence of the Lord in 1998-1999

1. Ithiel Clemmons , Bishop, Church of God in Christ (1921-1998)
2. Costa Deir , Pentecostal Bible teacher (1921-1998)
3. Benson Idabosa , Nigerian Archbishop (1939-1998)
4. Winston Nunes , Elim Deeper Life Teacher (b. 1912)
5. John Osteen , Missionary Statesman (1921-1999)
6. Ruth Prince , wife of Bible teacher Derek Prince (1930-1998)
7. James Zirkle , Missionary Pioneer (1942-1998)

The next update will appear on this site in the Spring of 2000, D.V.

Corrections to the Original Text

1. Please note that the final line of p. 72 of " Floods Upon the Dry Ground" is incomplete. It should read: "Prophecy, miracles, healings, and speaking in tongues were evident, as well as a high degree of revival power ."
2. On p. 180, 18 lines down, the text should read: "At Yale University in Connecticut ."
3. On p. 235, 5 lines down, the text should read: "the seven years from 1987 -1993"