When you hear the word revival, most of us think about something that happened in the past, the Great Awakening, movements that God did in days gone by.
Well, I've got news. God is doing some of those kind of things in our day, and he's using some young people to get it launched. That's today on Living on the Edge.
Stay with me. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we are a discipleship-driven ministry on a mission to encourage Christians everywhere to live like Christians. Thanks for being with us as we continue Chip's interview with his friend Jenny Allen. She's an accomplished author, sought-after speaker, and the visionary behind the IF Gathering, an international ministry dedicated to empowering women to become passionate disciples of Jesus who actively seek to make more disciples. Last time, Jenny shared uplifting stories of young people committing their lives to Jesus and challenged the body of Christ to be more active in mentoring this next generation. Today, she'll tell us more about her ministry and unveil the exciting event she's pioneering later this year that'll impact Christians worldwide. So if you're ready, here's Chip to dive right into the remainder of his insightful talk. A lot of people probably don't know what an IF Gathering is, and maybe give us just a little background and history of how that started and grew and where it's at and how that has gone now from the IF Gathering to Gather 25.
Yeah. So IF Gathering has been the most beautiful dream. You know, it's called IF Gathering because the question was, if God is real, then how do we live, and how do we live surrendered lives? And so it's been so fun because it's taken so much risk, and it's been such a team project where thousands and thousands of leaders from around the world are hosting their own gathering, and it's just so much fun. It feels like a giant group project. And candidly, I couldn't have imagined it getting bigger.
Our reach is really far, and I think we reached 179 countries, and I really couldn't imagine anything more than what IF Gathering was. But there was a friend of ours that reached out and said, we're going to give a million dollars to your ministry, and it's not for IF Gathering. It's for something God's going to call you to in the future to mobilize the Church. And their faith was the first sign that I ever thought maybe there is something else, and I just waited for the Lord. And it was two years later I had a vivid dream that Jesus was coming back in 10 years, and it was an urgent dream, and it felt like it was from God. In fact, the night I dreamed the dream, a friend of mine had prayed, God, would you give Jenny a vision in her sleep? Because I was feeling a little restless and confused about what was next. And so when I woke up from that dream, I knew that we should gather the entire global church. And that sounds crazy, like who thinks about something like that?
But it just didn't feel like a big deal to me. I thought, we've got technology, we should do this. And with IF Gathering, we've been gathering women all over the world. And so I just began to share it with partners like Bible Project and YouVersion and the Bible app and RightNow Media, all these partners. And they all just were like, yes and amen, let's do it.
And so I realized pretty quickly we would have a big team to be able to pull this off. And so it's happening on February 28th, March 1st in the U.S., and March 1st, March 2nd around the world, a lot of the places. We are gathering the entire global church in 2025. And so we're inviting every single person that's a believer in Jesus to come to these 25 hours. And we're going to pray, worship, repent. You're going to see stories from every continent of all that God is doing.
Just like this conversation you and I have had, Chip, is so encouraging that God is moving in such powerful ways in prisons and on college campuses and with women all over the world. This is going to be that for the church. It is going to be—I mean, you're just not going to believe all the stories of the persecuted church. We're doing an entire hour on the persecuted church. But most of these events will be happening live around the world. And so seven live events in 25 hours, and then a few parts are prerecorded, and we're going to tell all the stories from every continent as well of how God is moving.
Isn't it amazing? By the way, you and I have a very clear doctrinal perspective on life, right? Right. But God's tent is very, very big.
That's right. And the Apostles' Creed was written for a reason. And we can differ on all kind of secondary issues and have opinions, but none of those matter nearly as much as lost people coming to Christ, found people actually maturing and becoming disciples, and the church meeting the greatest needs in the world and communities. I think we get in these little silos, and we get in the silos of, I listen to this cable channel, or I only listen to this kind of music, or I only hang around with this kind of group of people, and this is my little world. And pretty soon then, you know, all these algorithms just keep telling me things that I already believe or reinforce lies that I already believe. And so we get more and more and more and more divided. And the picture I have in my mind is like all the people listening, million, whatever it is right now, that literally like we'd be in this huge room, and that God right now is just like peeling off the roof and saying, hey, hey, guess what? The world's way bigger.
I'm doing more. There's grace. It's possible. Get off of your inwardly focused navel gazing and recognize the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
It dwells in you, and I can use you. And I guess the one place I wanted to go to was, I'm sure I'll get someone to say, so are you telling me, Chip, that Jennie got a dream from God and Jesus will be definitely coming back in 10 years, and she's making a prophecy? Let me tell you that Jennie is not saying that, right? No, I'm definitely not saying that.
Nobody knows the hour of the day. I know my Bible. But I do think what it did for me, I think he could.
Yes. And I think that urgency should be in all of us. And you see it in the early church. You see it in all of the disciples and expectation that Jesus was coming back soon throughout Acts. And so I think the bigger question is if he did come back in our lifetime, are we ready?
And I would just say the answer to that is absolutely we are not. We have 5.5 at least billion people that do not know Jesus, and many of which have never, ever heard the name of Jesus. So we all have a responsibility here, whether it's to college students at a nearby college or whether it's across the world to give to the organizations that are helping there or to share with our barista at Starbucks. We all have this call in our lives to make disciples of every nation and every tongue. That's what he asked us to do. And so we really have a pretty big task ahead.
And 5.5 billion people right now would perish if he came back today. So I do think we've all got to share that load, and we've got to come together and dream about what it would look like. And we're going to have—it'll be an incredible event. A lot of people will want to participate because of the level of the speakers we have from around the world, the stories that we're going to tell that's going to blow everybody's minds. But at the end of the day, the hope is we come together to imagine how we can work together like we've never worked together before.
If he is coming back soon, and when you think about that question, if Jesus came back soon, we would work together. We would make sure the gospel was simple and clear and that everybody gets it. We're building a simple tool that's going to come out of this that is a 60-second explainer video of the gospel that we're working on in conjunction with Bible Project. And it's just so fun to imagine that we could really be a part of watching the Bible get to and the gospel get to every single person on earth. The reality is we live in a time that that's possible.
Technology makes that possible, as well as things like Illuminations, who's translating the Bible into the last remaining languages that have yet to have translation. So it's such a big, fat group project, but Gather 25 is going to show that off and everyone's going to get to see what God is doing on earth today and also what it's going to take to finish the task. Well, part of what I wanted to have you share and have the Living on the Edge family here, you have this gathering, all these countries, hundreds of thousands of women or millions of women get together. The danger is, oh, well, Jennie must be more holy, Jennie must be smarter, Jennie must have something special that all of us don't have. And part of what I guess has been my life message because I know me and every, quote, great Christian that I've ever got really, really, really close to and gotten beyond sort of the superficial, I mean, really know him, I've just never met an extraordinary person.
Here's a real left-handed compliment. I know you well enough to know you're just a really ordinary person and that you have all the ups and downs as everyone else. I think we had one conversation maybe a year, year and a half or so ago that you really were in a high stress, difficult situation. And I want people to know that your ordinariness or their ordinariness, far from being a detractor, it actually is what sets up God to get credit for things. Absolutely.
The only qualification I would say I bring to the table is I do say yes to whatever He says. And I've done that long enough that He's made the cliffs that I'm jumping off of higher and higher because that's what you do. When you go cliff jumping, you usually are terrified and you jump off a little bitty cliff and then you realize that was kind of fun and you go up on another one and it gets higher and higher.
And right now, mine is raising $18.5 million for a global event for the church together for the first time in history. And all that sounds really big and terrifying, and it is. And on a regular basis, I am, you know, I remember recently somebody asked the question, like, either this is arrogant or you're crazy or this is a move of God. And I was like, well, the crazy, the foolish, I get that. Like, there's lots of days I feel foolish. The arrogant, I never feel. And the reason I never feel it is I'm around people that are literally risking their lives for the gospel.
Yes. And it just puts your perspective into a whole different category because what we're doing in obeying God, whatever it is, not many people listening right now could die because of it. And so you know what? I'm going to give them that they're not ordinary people. I think that God has given them special ability to persevere through the unthinkable. But the rest of us, it's like, yeah, we're just doing the best we can to follow God. And I don't think people are that different. Again, I'm comparing myself to prisoners.
I could be there. I remember I met one girl and she had had a little bit too much to drink and killed two kids. And I'm like, that could happen to people I know. Like, that is not crazy. That's not a premeditated murder. But she killed two kids with a bad decision and a bad night, and she's in jail for the next 17 years.
So, you know, let's just not make these comparisons of the us and them about anyone or anything. I have been blessed with a lot of knowledge about God, so my theology, I think, is pretty strong. I'm quite sure there's things I'm wrong on. I'll find out when I get to heaven. And I promise you, there's things all of us are going to find out when we get to heaven. We didn't know the Holy Spirit was that powerful and we could pray like that.
We didn't know that this was possible and we could do this. There's going to be things we didn't know. But do you believe the gospel? Do you believe that the gospel means that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Do you believe that the gospel means that you've been equipped for good works that He prepared in advance for you to do?
This isn't even works we thought of. This is works He prepared in advance for you to do, and that He equips you for every good work that He's called you to do. That's the Bible. So if all of that is true, then we have work to do. And if we're breathing still, I don't care how old you are and listening, there is work for you to do.
We need you to, in your spot, whatever place He's put you. Acts 17 says that He puts us in our allotted time, He decides the times we will live and He puts us in our allotted boundary. He draws our boundary lines and He says this is when you're going to live and this is where you're going to live so that perhaps people may feel their way to God. So every single person in their place is there in this time breathing so that perhaps people may feel their way to God.
And if we all can just see ourselves as people helping people feel their way to God and do it, actually do it, and quit fighting about everything else. I sound really angsty today. I'm not actually.
I actually really get it. And there have been so many days that I've felt cynical. There have been so many days that I've felt disappointed in people and the way the world is going. I feel all of those things too.
I think I just feel tired of focusing on things we can't control and missing out on the things that we actually have been called to do. And so this is how the world changes and I deeply believe it. As you were talking, you know, it's part of your giftedness. It's very simple. It's very clear. You quoted Acts 17, you quoted Ephesians 2, you quoted Romans chapter 1, the power of the Gospel. Very biblical, very clear. And as you were doing that, I was thinking of people listening thinking, I believe that, I believe that, I believe that. And then the question kind of pops up, well, why is she so urgent and focused and clear on this right now? And I feel like I'm often in a fog and I don't want to go down a sort of a negative track, but I think both of us would observe there are certain things happening among Christians and in our culture that can we say distract, that sort of dilute that kind of faith.
Let's be real. I've got circumstances today that can make that foggy. You know, faith is a gift and I really believe that because I don't feel like I've drummed this up. I think this is something God has gifted me with and he has called me to use my voice to help people know him. So at the same time, what I have seen is, and I think this is a good little practice before we end, is just to really look at your life and I can lead an exercise to do that.
And it's similar to what I do in the prisons or on the college campuses, but it applies to every one of us. And you're right, there's a lot of things worrying for our attention. We find ourselves in a battle.
We are wartime people. It's spiritual forces that are fighting over us and the prize, the thing they're fighting over is our faith. And so I think this is where, you know, we really have to do some spiritual work.
This isn't just to read your Bible every day because some of you do that and you still forget. This is whose dominion are you under? And if you are under the enemy's dominion in any form or fashion, you have given him an inch, then he will take that inch and he will consume your mind. He will make you care more about your reputation than your holiness. He will make you care more about what you're doing and your importance in the world than your surrender and your obedience. He'll make you care more about money than people. These are, you know, these are his ways.
He's done it throughout history. And so I think maybe we could just end with a little practice where everybody listening could just consider, where have I given the enemy an inch? Let's do it.
Walk us through it. OK, so wherever you are, I want you to close your eyes and I want you to imagine you're just in some great place that you love that's just beautiful. And I want you to imagine the wind blowing and all the things that that place contains for you. And I want you to imagine that Jesus walks up and he sits just knee to knee right across from you. And the two of you are going to have a chat and he's sitting right across from you.
And now I just want to give a little bit of space and quiet and I want you just to share with him whatever sin and whatever weight or distraction is consuming you right now and just say it to him wherever you are. And now I want you to imagine how he's looking at you as you tell him all of this. What's his face toward you? Is he angry? Is he happy to be here? Is he sad? I think he's really happy to be here. I think he's really grateful that you told him things he already knows.
And I think he's insanely compassionate toward you. And what you just shared with him, I would encourage you to share with people you love and trust. And as we do that practice, as we confess our sin to one another and we confess it to God, he is faithful to heal us. Confession isn't salvation.
Salvation is putting our hope in the blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness, the only means of forgiveness for our sins. What confession does is it heals us. And where the enemy has taken ground in your life, whether it's through loneliness and disappointment, or whether it would be a weight, described in Hebrews, or sin, which would be decisions that you've knowingly or unknowingly made that are offensive to God.
Either category, what those things do is they push us further and further into ourselves and into and under the dominion of the enemy. And I just believe, like I said earlier, the power of confession breaks the power of the enemy. And so we say out loud the things we're scared to say. And as we do that to each other and as we do that to God, we find freedom and we find wholeness. And what happens, what we've been talking about this whole time is you don't judge other people. When you're aware of your own issues, you don't judge other people.
When you're aware that there are things you're struggling with, you might share it with someone else. And that opens the way for the gospel. All the things we're talking about begins with understanding our need for God, our personal need for God. There isn't a whole generation out there that needs God.
Yes, there is. But that's not the problem. You need God and you can't take God to people until you recognize your own need for God. And as you do, there's this beautiful dependence that rises up in us and it just sets us free. And now I can share my story really easily because I'm like, yep, I struggle with this. I struggle with pride. I struggle with anger sometimes towards my kids and towards people.
I've struggled with unforgiveness. And you begin to say that and you say, but there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and my compassionate God heals me and forgives me and begins to redeem that. So I think that is the way the world changes. I believe that in processing that and being honest about that, it puts us in our rightful place before God and before others.
And as much as many of you were leaning in thinking, oh, good, the next generation, I'm glad someone's out there doing it. The real message is God wants to work in me deeply before he's going to work through me significantly. And so our Father, we close our time today and tell you how much that we need you. We thank you that you're a forgiving God. We thank you that because of Jesus, you have in fact taken our sins as far as the east is from the west. Lord, we thank you that we are greeted with eyes of tenderness and compassion because you're mindful that we're but dust. We struggle. We're human. And Lord, it doesn't shock you.
It doesn't surprise you. So we don't need to hide. And so, Lord Jesus, we are asking now that in a very, very powerful way, you would work in us. We ask also that you would begin to just work in thousands and then tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands and then millions and millions of people to gather from all around the world to celebrate our salvation, our freedom, the community, and the amazing stewardship of being gifted to take the gospel in word and deed all around the world. Lord, would you protect Jenny and her team?
Would you meet all of her needs? Would you bless her children and Zach? And Lord, I just thank you that I get to know her and be her friend. We exalt you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. You've been listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and I hope you've enjoyed Chip's encouraging interview with author and speaker Jenny Allen. For more information about her ministry and the upcoming Gather 25 event, visit their website, IfGathering.com.
That's IfGathering.com. We hope you'll be a part of all that Jenny and her team are doing. Well, Chip's with me in studio now, and Chip, after listening to Jenny's passion for the work God's called her to, you know, I think we're all inspired to be the best Christian and bring glory to God. And in your book, Good to Great in God's Eyes, you highlight some specific practices that can help us get there. So, would you take a minute and unpack a few of those habits for us?
Well, Dave, absolutely. I think we all, you know, we want to be great, and maybe even more importantly for those of us that are parents or grandparents or those involved in ministry, we want others to be great. You know, the greatest joy in life, real success, is not what you accomplish. It's how you help others be successful. And what I love about this book, it's nothing really very original. I think I'm an arranger, but this talks about thinking great thoughts. Everything begins with our thinking, and then you move to reading great books.
And I kind of give the top 10 or 12 different books that impacted my life and different kinds of books. And then it's pursuing great people. And I think a lot of people think, oh, I want to mentor, or gosh, if I could just rub up next to someone, I've heard that more is caught than taught.
And that's really true. And so in the book, I help people understand, here's how you get connected with those kind of people, and here's how you even get mentored by really, really great people that you'll never get to meet. And then it moves on through that to, you know, dreaming great dreams and praying great prayers, and even later for some of the driven sort of workaholic type people, how to enjoy great moments. This isn't just about, you know, the few, the proud, the marine type Christians.
There's a rhythm. There are practices in life that, as you do them, fueled by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in the context of community, there are certain practices that, by God's grace, result in a kind of mom, a kind of dad, a kind of Christian, a kind of worker that receives from God, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, and receives from men. I'm so glad I got to know that person. That person really shaped my life.
That grandparent, my dad, my mom. And when someone asks me to mentor them, I use this book, and I go slow, and I meet with them, and we do a chapter, and sometimes it takes a couple, even three weeks to go through a chapter because it's not about reading the chapter. It's about how do we get this practice little by little in our life. So I'm a big fan of what I've learned from others, and Good to Great in God's Eyes is the practices that we can pass that on to others, and that's my dream and my hope.
Thanks, Chip. Well, to order your copy of Good to Great in God's Eyes, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. This is the perfect tool to jumpstart your faith and live a more authentic, purpose-filled life. Now, during this series, all the resources for Good to Great in God's Eyes, including Chip's book, are discounted, so let me encourage you to order yours today. Simply go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or give us a call at 888-333-6003.
Atlas near step, special offers. Well, as we wrap up today, I want to thank those of you who make this program possible through your generous financial support. Your gifts help us create programs, purchase airtime, and develop additional resources to help Christians live like Christians. If you've been blessed by the Ministry of Living on the Edge, would you consider sending a gift today? You can do that by visiting LivingOnTheEdge.org or by calling 888-333-6003. Again, that's 888-333-6003, or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap donate. We want you to know how much we appreciate your support. Well, from all of us here, I'm Dave Druey, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge, and I hope you'll join us next time.
