after breakthrough
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ollegiate Impact
igniting hearts, tranforming campuse
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After investing eight years in campus min-istry, God surprised me and the staff I was
working with at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison. On a Friday evening, while listening to the
testimonies of two visiting students from a nearby
Christian college, God revealed himself in His holi-
ness and suddenly many of us found ourselves
broken over the sin lurking beneath the surface
and repenting publicly.
Before the evening was over, everythingoften
in tearswas brought into the light: anger, bitter-
ness, pride, hatred, self-image issues, deception,
stealing, spiritual coldness, and a wide range of
sexual sins. Since the vast majority of people in
attendance had never experienced anything like
this before, they were somewhat bewildered and
had lots of questions . . . including me.
Since that gathering, I have had the opportunity
to take part in many similar meetings where God
has powerfully manifested his presence, bringing
students from bondage and spiritual dullness into
freedom, joy, and fruitfulness. In each situation,
God accomplished a modern-day version of John
the Baptists ministry of calling people to repen-
tance to prepare the way of the Lord. Undeniably, in
many, if not all of these gatherings, many students
walked away with a fresh encounter with Christ, and
streams of living water was no longer just a bibli-cal concept but had become a reality.
The following summarizes what God has taught
me over the years in regards to these kinds of meet-
ings and what I wish someone had shared with me
following that initial life-changing evening at the
University of Wisconsin.
suddenly many of usfound ours elves broke n over the s in
lu rk ing beneath the sur face and
repent ing publ ic ly .
Dave WarnDirector of Collegiant Impact
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Be ready to explain Gods purposes inpublic confession
Many will likely ask, Why is all that is going
on so public? Ive always been taught to confess
my sin privately. Even so, the power of sin is in its
secrecy. Once a persons disposition of concealment
is broken, the Spirits power can once again do a
transforming work.
More specically, even though private prayer
with confession has a key role in the Christian
life, too often sins hold is not broken because wecontinue to coddle it at some conscious or subcon-
scious level. Instead of the abundant life that Jesus
promised His followers, the result is defeat.
But in public confession, very few confess their
waywardness unless they have a sincere desire to
turn, burn bridges, and close the door once and for
all. People feel the weight of the issue at hand and,
for the most part, playing games with God is over.
Another byproduct of public confession is thatmasks come off, real needs are shared, and the
body of Christ at last becomes what God intended it
to be. Like never before, students will pray for each
other, encourage each other, and navigate Gods
will together.
Perhaps this why James urges believers to
confess your sins to one another, that you may be
healed (James 5:16). Through public confession,
spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational healing
is waiting for us.
Often, the real issue is not the sin that needs tobe confessed publicly, but the pride that needs to be
slayed so that we will obey the Spirits promptings to
be transparent. In other words, fundamentally God
uses public confession to humble us.
the body
of Chr i s t at last
becomes what God
intended i t to be.
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The Bible teaches that humility is a prereq-
uisite to the Spirit working in our lives because
God opposes the proud, but works graciously in
the humble (2 Chron. 7:14, James 4:6). Addition-
ally, Peter encourages us to clothe ourselves with
humility (1 Pet. 5:5).
So when we think of public confession it is im-
perative to clearly communicate that God is not try-
ing to embarrass people but is trying to free people.
The truth often hurts before it heals, and becoming
all that God wants us to be in Christ is the goal of
public confession.
Go the whole way with God
The most prevalent mistake I have observed
after initial breakthroughs of Gods manifest pres-
ence is the decision to go back to less convicting,
more informational, teaching oriented, and at times
entertain-ment driven meetings. Sometimes this is
willful, but often it is a subconscious default mode
after all, it is what we know.
While quickly reverting back to previous patternsmay feel right, the ministry will inadvertently move
out of the Spirits ow and back into a conspicuous
lack of power and fruitlessness.
To avoid Gods diminishing presence, the leader-
ship must persistently speak into the issues that
have surfaced and relentlessly pursue those issues
yet to surface so that no stone is left unturned. In
many meetings, the rst encounter with God that
brings people under conviction and public confes-
sioneven gatherings that last for hoursis only the
beginning of what God desires to do.Like layers of an onion, the leadership must
continue to address humility, brokenness, repen-
tance until each layer of sin has been exposed,
each idol has been torn down, and the Spirits
power is in full effect. Be-cause we have set our
hearts on going the whole way with Godwherever
that may leadthere is real hope for freedom,
genuine life-change, and ultimately the transfor-
mation of the entire campus.
An initial breakthrough with conviction and
even public confession is often simply thatan
initial step. We have arrived at the homepage of
the Spirits work, but we have much further to go.
While not decreasing the emphasis onbrokenness, increasingly focus onthe cross
Once God breaks in and many have sharedtheir deepest darkest struggles stuff they would
not have shared with their best friend over coffee
prior to Gods invasion on the scene many will
need clear redemptive teaching from the Word.
It is the leaders role to provide this truth, while
careful-ly not backing off of or obscuring the Holy
Spirits searchlight of conviction for those that
are still in the process of coming clean with God
and others.
In summary, while challenging your students to
go the whole way with God in repentance and con-fession, they will need to hear the truths of Gods
Word that explain that nothing is beyond the reach
of the cross, Jesus died for everything, and Gods
desire is not to condemn anyone but to have
everyone walk in the light as He is in the light
(1 John 1:7).
Keep pressing in
As you continue navigating, it can be challenging
to stay out of the way of what God is doing, but notlet students (i.e., the esh) or the enemy disrupt the
work of the Spirit. Rather than controlling the meet-
ing, there are some practical steps that can help
keep Gods work on track and open the meeting
to an even deeper work of the Spirit.
As a meeting progresses, remember to
regularly remind students to:
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Bring whatever it is into the light where
Jesus can touch it. Satan wants us to keep
our sin and struggles in the dark where he
can continue holding us in bondage. The
last thing Satan wants is for us to walk in
the light as Jesus is in the light.
Go that last 10%. Partial obedience is still
disobedience. Deal with whatever is still
blocking the experience of streams of living
water. On a number of occasions, I have
seen students come forward and confess asin, but when I remind them to go the last
10%, they come back to the front of the
room to confess the real issue that was at
the root of grieving the Holy Spirit.
Help students articulate what God is
placing on their hearts by asking, What
specically are you turning from? And what
are you turning to? These questions help
steer people from vague, meaningless
confessions, and from venting ratherthan repenting. The Spirit always works
in lives by revealing specics
and we are wise to stay in
step with Him.
Brokenness is a lifestyle, not an event
Because of the powerful nature of the way God
meets people during seasons of his manifest pres-
ence, corporate gatherings of confession, broken-
ness, and repentance, along with fresh llings of the
Holy Spirit can be viewed as dramatic events that
happen only on rare occasions. However, the Scrip-
tures teach that brokenness and the lling of the
Holy Spirit are to be experienced as a life-style.
It is important to understand that Gods desires
His children to continually live so closely to histhrone and in His presence that sin is always seen
as repulsive. Therefore, whenever we sin, we will
respond to it with a broken and contrite spirit (Ps.
51:17) and move right back into a fresh experience
with our Heavenly Father.
In addition, leaders must model a lifestyle with
the roof off and the walls down: the roof off before
God and the walls down before other people. We
have nothing to hide, and our lives are an open
book. More than anything else, this heart-set will
ignite movements of authentic Christianitywherever we go.
Big R and little r repentance
While something deep within the soul breaks at
the moment of brokenness and public confession,
this does not necessarily mean that a person will be
completely free from ever committing
that sin again.
go the last 10%
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Because someone confesses anger in broken-ness and tears, will anger ever raise its ugly head in
the days and years to come? Probably.
If someone confesses lust, will he or she ever
experience a lustful feeling again? Probably.
Even so, this does not mean that the Holy Spirit
was not moving powerfully at the moment of confes-
sion. At that instant, when the Holy Spirit opens our
eyes, prompts confession, and brings sin issues into
the light where Jesus supplies grace and forgive-
ness, we are experiencing big R repentance.
However, big R repentance must be followedby little r repentances whenever the esh rears its
ugly head. Put another way, the apostle Paul said to
make it a practice to take off the old self and put on
the new self (Eph. 4:20-24). Following the Spirits
promptings versus eshly impulses is a daily choice
and we should not be surprised to experience some
level of continued temptation.
When we do sin, however, it is important to
remember Johns words, My little children do not
sin . . . but if you do sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:2).Through public confession, true repentance, and a
renewed freedom in the cross and Gods grace, we
have moved from habitual sin with occasional vic-
tory, to habitual righteousness with the possibility
of an occasional sin.
Dealing with the schemes of the enemy
The enemy, prowling around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour, hates Christians (1
Pet. 5:8). But even more, he hates Christians whoare clean before God and experiencing streams of
living water. He will do everything possible to
steal from them their rst love and joy that they
are experiencing in Jesus Christ. It is important
to teach those under your care to anticipate
and deal with the following lies:
You embarrassed yourself by confessing yoursin and weaknesses publicly. You will be shunned
and no one will accept you. Actually, the oppo-
site is true. Christians who humbly and genuinely
confess their sins and weaknesses are among the
most beloved in the body of Christ.
Although you confessed, you are still guilty and
will always feel guilty about what you have done.
You will never be free. Actually, John teaches that,
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and
will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteous-ness(1 John 1:9); and the psalmist says, As far as
the east is from the west, so far have I separated
you from your sin (Ps. 103:12).
You have no power and your life will never
change. Actually, in Christ we are dead to sin and
are a new creations (Rom. 6:1ff, 2 Cor. 517); and
Paul reminds us that, It is no longer I who live but
Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20).
Make restitution with others
Those who have sinned against someone else
will only nd initial freedom through their confes-
sion. They must also go to the offended person(s)
and humbly confess what they have done with a
sincere desire to do whatever they can to promote
reconciliation. The joy of having an absolutely
clear conscience will never be realized until this
nal, crucial step of obedience is complete.
But once it has taken place, there will be
boundless freedom!
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Avoid Commiserating Groups
Paul said, But thanks be to God, who gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Cor.
15:57). As your ministry moves forward experiencing
real life in God, students will need to be close to oth-
ers who can hold them accountable and help them
see victory together.
Too often accountability groups see very little
victory and degenerate into commiserating groups
where empathy is high and real life change is low. It
is important that the specics of public confessionand repentance detailed above are also practiced
in small groups and accountability groups.
In summary, anytime a system is created where
sin is simply pushed down, there will not be long
term freedom and life in the Spirit. Sin must be
identied at its root, confessed and renounced, and
brought to the cross where grace and forgiveness
is abundantly supplied. It is in this atmosphere
that member of an accountability group can walk
together in victory.
View holiness as life-giving, rather thana burden
Wherever sin operates, toxicity creeps in and
slowly kills the life in Christ being experienced by the
individual, as well as the believing community. How-
ever, where holiness exists, there is purity and the
Holy Spirit exhibiting His life, peace, and power. To
see real transformation, personally or campus-wide,
holiness must be embraced.
It is rare in contemporary campus ministry to
have a robust view of the holiness of God and the
holiness of the believer. But Paul encourages us,
Dear brothers . . . purify yourselves from everything
that contaminates body and spirit perfecting holi-
ness out of reverence for God (2 Cor. 7:1).
In light of the degenerate campus atmosphere,it is crucial that we give our staff and students a
positive, realistic, life-giving picture of holiness. Paul
does this very thing in Romans: But now that you
have been set free from sin and have become slaves
to God, the benet you reap leads to holiness, and
the result is eternal life (Rom. 6:22).
Holiness should never be viewed as an impossible
task or burden, but as the life-giving streams of water,
freely available to everyone through the Holy Spirit.
In closing . . .
A life-changing, campus-altering move of the
Holy Spirit is a paradox. On the one hand it encom-
passes the power of heaven being released to
accomplish all that God desires for a given ministry
and the lost community connected to it. On the
other hand, it is fragile and the Spirits work can
be quenched at every turn. This is the tension that
anyone ministering in these sacred moments of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit feels.
However, if we employ the principles above andkeep trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead us forward in
a variety of ways beyond the scope of this article, I
believe that a deep, thorough, sweeping move of the
Spirit will be something we no longer have to experi-
ence only vicariously through history books, but will
be a reality that we observe with our own eyes on
the campuses where we minister. Lets pray and
walk by faith toward that end. n
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www.CollegiantImpact.organ outreach of Life Action Ministries
In s umma ry , while challenging your students togo the whole way with God in repentance and confession, they will
need to hear the truths of Gods Word that explain that nothing is
beyond the reach of the Cross.
[That weekend] God put it in my heart to confess my sins. I told
people about how I was dealing with lustful thoughts, physical re-
lationships, and how I had become an alcoholic. That day, people
prayed for me, and I felt the power of God rest on me and God has
been working miraculously in my life since then. I nally defeated
the hold that alcohol had in my life. Lustful thoughts have been
minimal and I can see the Holy Spirit working in my life daily.
The last few months have been an awesome time in my spiritual
journey and I have had the opportunity to lead two of my best
friends to Christ.
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