The Revival School In Pensacola

By Chris McLaughlin, Class of 2000

PENSACOLA, FL -- What God has accomplished in this short time period is nothing short of miraculous. During a visit to Brownsville Assembly of God, Tommy Tenney stated, "Brownsville used to be a place where people went to get something. It’s becoming a place where people go to learn something and take it back." The Brownsville Revival School of Ministry has played an integral role in this transition. Each semester, BRSM students are equipped to take the flames of revival to the nations of the earth.

The students themselves are incredibly diverse, with representatives from every race, color, and creed, ranging in age from eighteen to seventy-seven! Some are fresh out of high school, others went more than thirty years without being in a classroom. They come from the majority of the fifty states, and many countries as well. Why? Because they feel that BRSM is the best place for them to be trained up to reach the lost. With all the diversity, there is one strong commonality between them- the call of God on their lives.

Nonetheless, without proper training, the call of God can never be fulfilled. A favorite saying of one of the BRSM professors is, "If you have the Word without the Spirit you dry up, if you have the Spirit without the Word you blow up, but when you combine the Word with the Spirit you GROW up!" That saying epitomizes the style of training the students receive at BRSM. The instructors’ balance of academic accomplishment and field experience provide the insight needed to train students in their call. First and foremost, the faculty members are firmly grounded in the Word of God. They teach over and over that the Word of God is our final authority; that personal experience must be viewed in light of the Word, not the other way around.

At the same time, however, the Holy Spirit is always free to do whatever He wants in the classroom. It is not uncommon for the Holy Spirit to move on students in intercession during a "regular" class. In some cases, students have received physical healing during class. On at least one occasion God’s presence was felt so strongly that an actual cloud was witnessed hovering toward the ceiling of the classroom. Every class is truly unique. One never really knows what to expect from day to day.

Still, classroom learning, no matter how dynamic the professor or anointed the course, it is not enough to fully equip laborers for the harvest field. Thus, a strong emphasis on practical field train

ing is where BRSM separates itself from many other training facilities. This is accomplished through two primary avenues. First, during the semester, there are countless opportunities for students to participate in local ministry outreaches. Every Friday and Saturday night the streets and beaches of Pensacola (as well as Mobile) are covered by BRSM students, eager to share Jesus’ love with those they meet. Through skits, worship music, and one-to-one evangelism, these students lead hundreds of lost souls to the Lord. It can now be said that more people are coming to the Lord on the streets of Pensacola than in the meetings at church!

In addition, some students minister to the elderly in nursing homes each week while others help out in low income child care centers throughout the city. Still others team up with various local ministries such as the Salvation Army and the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen. All in all, this semester almost seven hundred students actively participated in some form of volunteer outreach or another- that’s over 60% of the student body!

Along with weekly outreaches, BRSM sponsors numerous short term mission trips. Students forfeit their semester breaks and pay their own way to minister to lost and hurting people in inner cities, Native American reservations, and foreign countries. These are not tourist trips. Many offer poor accommodations, long hours, and little free time. Yet, this semester alone, 165 students participated in these trips.

God consistently honors these students’ sacrifices by showing up in power when they go out to minister. Literally thousands of individuals have come to the Lord as a result of these short term trips. Two such salvations particularly stand out. First, on a trip to Africa a year-and-a-half ago, our missions director, John Cava, seized the opportunity to lead a king to the Lord. That’s right, a king! This tribal king once asserted his authority over his one million plus subjects with the threat of physical (even mortal) punishment. Now he has submitted himself to the King of kings!

Just this spring, a Hindu high priest gave his life to the Lord in southern India as a direct result of one of the short term trips. Obeying the Lord, the team began to pray around a Hindu temple, within just a few feet of a large gathering of Hindu priests. Weeks later, the High Priest received a revelation of Jesus and gave his life to Him. Immediately he took his idols out into the public square and began smashing them. He is presently evangelizing the priests who used to serve under him and has vowed not to give up until he sees the one hundred Hindu temples he built on the island destroyed. Other teams have seen blind eyes opened, demons cast out, prophecies fulfilled, and many other signs and wonders. In a nutshell, the students see and experience on the field what they learn about in the classroom- the supernatural and eternal power of Jesus Christ.

So what kind of ministers does this style of training produce? By the time BRSM students graduate, most are sold out to Jesus, heartbroken for a lost and dying world, and prepared to lay down their lives for the coming harvest of souls! Just 18 months after graduating the pioneer class, more than thirty grads now serve as full time missionaries in 16 nations around the globe. Many others work in the inner cities of the United States, in local churches, and one couple is preparing to plant a church on a Native American reservation. Eighty-three others just completed the school’s third year internship program, which is designed to further equip men and women through more specialized training.

Whether they serve on the foreign mission field or here in the states, the reports filtering back from BRSM grads are incredible. Youth groups across America are experiencing revival. In Russia, doors are opening for BRSM missionaries to preach in public classrooms. In Irian Jaya, graduates had the honor of assisting a long time missionary in locating a "lost" tribe of people. This tribe had virtually no contact with the outside world until this meeting. BRSM graduates are both prepared and willing to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth so that every tribe can hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

This is just the beginning. Each year BRSM continues to grow, both in size and in depth. Plans are being formulated to expand both locally and internationally. Already, mission bases operate in Mexico and Germany, with similar bases planned around the world. God sparked something in the Brownsville Revival that He wants carried to the ends of the earth before He returns. While many ministries work toward that end, it is clear that He has raised the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry to play a major role in this end time revolution.