This is a guest blog post by James A. Smith, Executive Editor of Florida Baptist Witness as posted in the Witness on February 20, 2013, used with permission. 

Evangelicals in America—including Florida Baptists—lack a “deep sense of brokenness” because of our self-reliance. Until there is dependence on God and total brokenness in our midst, we will not see revival.

That was the message of Clayton Cloer during a Feb. 7 worship service held in conjunction with the State Board of Missions meeting at Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center. The brief message—only about 10 minutes—prefaced a time of extended prayer, following a pattern led by Cloer at meetings around the state since the fall of 2011 as part of the ReVision Florida effort. The worship service/prayer meeting was a unique, special time for Florida Baptist leaders, and is a model of what could be happening across our state within our churches.

Cloer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Central Florida, has been leading the ReVision campaign, seeking to implement the first recommendation of the Imagine If Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report adopted at the 2010 Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting. The recommendation urged Florida Baptists to prioritize seeking spiritual renewal and revival in our midst.

But Cloer made clear during the worship service at Lake Yale there will be no revival until Florida Baptists are broken. “We will not see in the state of Florida what we want to see with methodological shifts, strategic enhancements, more of our degrees and more of our learning. … Because at its root is self-reliance. God is going to strip us of self-reliance because it’s an affront to Him. Brokenness happens when our self-reliance is really stripped away,” Cloer asserted. “God began every great movement in the context of brokenness. … There’s something missing in evangelicalism today and it’s brokenness. Brokenness attracts the very presence of God,” Cloer said, citing several Scripture references to emphasize the point:

“This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at My word” (Isa. 66:2).

“For the High and Exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy says this: ‘I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed’” (Isa. 57:15).

“The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart” (Ps. 57:15).

“The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” (Matt. 5:3).

Cloer paraphrased a Martin Luther saying: “God creates out of nothing. Therefore, until we are nothing God can make nothing of us.” Summarizing Nehemiah’s effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, Cloer said the work came after he agonized over the state of Israel and verbalized a plea to God for His assistance. As a result, God permitted Nehemiah to visualize the work that needed to be done.

“Revision happened in that context,” he said. “In the context of agony and brokenness.”Like a wild horse that must be broken, so must Christians, Cloer said. “It’s in its brokenness that its strength, its real, God-given ability has been harnessed. And then brokenness is met by the Lord with His provision and His Spirit pours out,” he said. Cloer led the assembly in a time of extended prayer in the manner of the house church movement in China in which Christians pray out loud, at the same time guided by various prayer points. The prayer was “to ask God to work in our midst,” he said. “You say, ‘Pastor, has it really gotten that desperate?’ Yes, it really has.” The comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, eliciting some laughter. But the humor underscored the reality for too many of us—prayer is not the first priority in our lives.

For the benefit of our readers, I’m reprinting here the prayer points offered by Cloer, which ideally would be used during prayer meetings or other gatherings in our churches. May we all pray fervently for a movement of God in our midst that will begin in our brokenness and growing dependence on only what God can do among us.

ReVision Florida Prayer Points

Brokenness over the lostness of our state and need of revival
Problem: lack of concern for unsaved
Symptom: No salvations, no baptisms, stagnant church