Highlight: Modern-day revival

We live in a world that is desperate for a revival. But what does revival look like and how does it happen?

Daniel Henderson believes that the early church can teach us how to bring revival in our world today. He points to a powerful story found in Acts 6.

“In essence, the widow feeding program had broken down. The Greek speaking widows weren’t getting food and the Hebrew speaking widows were.”

Division and distraction was among them, so the Apostles appoint spirit-filled men and women who could oversee and distribute the food evenly.

“The Apostles said, we’re not actually going to take care of this. We are not going to run a widow feeding program. We think there are some men here who are full of the Spirit who can do this, so you find who they are and we’ll appoint them, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the Word.’”

Daniel points to the Apostles act of delegation and commitment to prayer as starting one of the greatest moments of revival in history,

“Here’s the verse that I think is so key it says, ‘then the Word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples multiplied greatly.’” (Acts 6:7)

Revival happens when we are obedient to the word of God and committed to prayer. The modern day church has an opportunity to restore our commitment to prayer and the ministry of the Word of God to revive our nation, just as the disciples did in the book of Acts. Daniel elaborates,

“The last phrase, ‘and a great many priests were becoming obedient to the faith.’ That would be like opening the paper and reading: Bill Maher is Converted, or Buddhist Priests Leave the Temple, Islamic Mawlas Become Christians, etc.. People you never thought would come to Christ are being converted in mass – that’s revival.”

“Acts 6 is the greatest story of revival that we see in the book of Acts, and really ought to be a model for us today.”


Daniel Henderson has been guiding individuals, leaders, and churches to embrace experiences of powerful spiritual renewal for three decades. He has served as a senior pastor to thousands in congregations in California and Minnesota. Today he speaks across the nation at leadership conferences and local churches while coaching pastors and business leaders in the principles of a strategic and spiritually significant life.

Revival in the church