For almost twenty-five years, I’ve seemed to possess a Burning Heart…I just didn’t always know how to define it until the year 2000.

I vividly remember, over a quiet Fourth of July weekend, uncovering a brief account of the “1947 Fellowship of the Burning Hearts” while reading Bill Bright’s newly-released autobiography, Amazing Faith.

Tucked away in this inspiring book was the story of an all-night prayer meeting (reportedly in confession of sin) that was attended by only three men and a woman. By morning, Henrietta Mears, Richard Halverson, Bill Bright, and Louis Evans were compelled to make written commitments to “Christian discipleship,” promising to uphold its tenets all the days of their lives. They determined to invite collegians across America to join them. This would become the catalyst of a nation-wide, two-year collegiate revival that would sweep the country between the years 1947-1949.

The Fellowship of the Burning Hearts determined, as Christian leaders, (1) to be sold out to prayer and Bible reading for at least one hour a day, (2) to commit to sobriety and chastity, and most importantly, (3) to lead at least one person to Christ each year. History records that each of them did that—and much, much more!

Feeling as if I had discovered my “soul mates” in ministry, I reflected on how I had become a virtual member of the Fellowship!

Admittedly, I wasn’t always passionate about prayer. But as a 29 year-old, burned-out (too busy, too tired, too lazy to pray) youth worker, I truly discovered prayer as (1) the place to receive my marching orders from God, and (2) a non-negotiable daily appointment with the King. The discovery came while attending a youth workers’ convention.

There, I was unexpectedly convicted by the Holy Spirit. As if my heart and eyes were opened at the same time, I acknowledged that I could not “make it” in ministry (or marriage or motherhood) without spending significant time alone with God daily. So in February of 1984, this overworked, overweight, easily angered, jealous-of-others youth worker made a decision to pray for one hour a day for the rest of her life. (I’ve kept my commitment, one-day-at-a-time, since that convention. And I am convinced that this daily discipline has powerfully impacted every area and relationship in my life.)

As for holiness…this was not a word that was used in my parachurch circles. But I found holiness very easy to embrace as a Christian, because as a non-Christian I had “hit bottom” as an alcohol, drug, and sex addict. At the point of suicide, I came to Christ at the age of 21.

My dramatic conversion caused such a clean Holy Spirit shower to come over me, that I was never going to go back to my filthy, shameful activities. I hated immorality and impurity because they humiliated God and me. So by making and keeping personal and public decisions regarding sobriety and sexual purity, I was actually setting the best boundaries and accountability for someone like me.

And finally, my penchant for sharing the gospel—whether in a meeting or with strangers on airplanes – had never diminished and was an all-out, fiery compulsion within me almost 25 years later!

Still en fuego about Jesus, I just didn’t know what to call my passion until I read about the 1947 Fellowship of the Burning Hearts.

The only original member I knew personally was Bill Bright. So I proceeded to call him (and his wife), Vonette, and inquire about the history of this movement. I was told that no one had ever formally called the commitment or contract by name—and so I felt compelled (and I mean, unexplainably driven) to reprise the message and deliver it to college students.

The only problem was…I had been out of youth ministry for a few years (off the speaking circuit), and I didn’t even know that many college students, as even my son was a college graduate.

So I picked up the phone and called a few of my old friends from Youth Specialties, NNYM, Youth for Christ, college professors and chaplains, and even a Christian college president for whom I had spoken over a decade earlier.

The reception to my enthusiastic desire to call students to (1) a daily hour-long commitment to prayer and Bible reading, (2) purity and holiness that included sobriety and chastity in this culture, and (3) a revival harvest…was noticeably unenthusiastic. I couldn’t tell if I been out of the loop too long and was simply too old, or if they were trying to gently tell me that the “Burning Heart” was almost anti-cultural in this young generation.

I knew I sounded like a throwback to the mid-20th Century—bubbling over like a traveling tent evangelist; or as crazy as those 19th century circuit riders who had a contagious fervor for outdoor prayer and holiness preaching. But I just couldn’t help it. At times I was beside myself, sensing that I must go and do what no one was asking me to go and do! As humiliating as it was, I continued to make phone calls.

Then it happened. I started to connect with students and staff who were passionate-for-revival-praying learners.

In over two decades of ministry, I had never even been to a revival conference! I mean, never. I had been to and spoken at retreats, conferences, spiritual emphasis weeks, but not revivals! And I was as unfamiliar with the word “revival” and its many (positive and negative) connotations, until…

I started to meet more and more students who said they were “praying for revival.” They were calling God down—loudly! They were spending hours in prayer for revival out on the greens in the middle of their state school campuses, or in rooms set aside for solitude.

Soon I began receiving calls from students and campuses all over America, asking if I could come and pray (not preach or teach). Eventually I found myself on conference calls with 60+ students who were passionate about prayer. Next I was traveling hundreds of miles to meet with other like-minded praying students and adults to talk about what God was doing in their midst—and what we all believed He wanted to do on every campus in America!

Finally, I determined to link some of us together in 40 Days of Prayer on College Campuses for Revival in America. And I determined to visit every prayer room on each of the 23 participating campuses. Very quickly I found more and more students and staff (from state, private, and Christian college campuses) who believed God was calling this young generation to revival.

For the record, in all of my research and travels, I’ve developed a working definition of revival as “a new obedience to God,” not a series of emotionally-charged meetings.

As the clarion call to revival grew stronger, I found that I didn’t necessarily resonate with my peers as much as I did with students! In fact, revival was not even a word in my vocabulary until 2005, when students began to send me books by Finney, Edwards, Taylor, Hession and Spurgeon.

I was captivated by these students (and the revival authors) as they fanned the flame of revival in me! No longer would I be embarrassed about my passion for prayer, my zeal for holiness, or my enthusiasm for evangelism! Those who were 10 to 30 years younger had called me out, asked me to join them in prayer, to mentor and encourage them—to be their spiritual parent. I was hooked.

Over the next 30 months, I found myself in the most random places. I joined in a two-hour silent prayer walk with thousands of students and youth workers down one boulevard in the center of a large southern city. I visited a 24-hour prayer room in the basement of a fraternity house, invited to come and pray with two deeply dedicated freshman boys who had no idea why God was calling them (just babies) to lead prayer on one of the largest state school campuses in America!

One of my favorite memories was visiting a newly-remodeled prayer chapel with 50 students at midnight in the middle of winter in the heart of America. And more than once, I entered a prayer house rented by students for months at a time on the largest state school campuses in America! These young men and women—of every shape, color, and age—were begging God in prayer to come down to them and revive their generation and our nation!

It has been seven years since the flicker turned into a flame in my heart. And this year is no different. The fire of God in this young generation just grows hotter and gets bigger! In December 2007, I will be a part of leading thousands of students in a 12-hour “solemn assembly.” On May 25, 2008, I will stand with thousands of students and youth workers from dawn to dusk in the middle of a field for Paradise, a “sacred assembly” of worship to the King through Scripture, solitude and song.  In fact, there will be no speakers, artists or a stage.

The truth is…I’m not getting any younger. And I’ve regularly wondered why God would call me back to youth ministry after the age of 50! And though I still don’t have an answer—I’m definitely enthralled by the pure, burning hearts of so many students, young adults, and youth workers in this generation who are sold out to prayer, set apart in purity, and sent out with purpose.

Will you come along with us? Will you, with incredibly brave abandon, forget everything that makes perfect sense for that which makes no sense? Will you throw out the program that is completely structured and just pray with students?

Will you take time to fan the flame on the altar of your heart every day, clean your cup, then ask God how He might have you get involved in this revival prayer movement? Will you become a spiritual parent, rather than a youth worker, to this young generation? Will you?